The Africa Food Prize, originally the Yara Prize, is an annual award for contributions to African agriculture. [1]
The Africa Food Prize, originally the Yara Prize, is an annual award for contributions to African agriculture. [1]
Yara International, a Norwegian chemical company and a large producer of fertilizer, established the Yara Prize for a Green Revolution in Africa in 2005. According to the company, "The Yara Prize aims at celebrating significant achievements related to food and nutrition security and sustainable agriculture with a transformative power." [2]
The first recipient was Meles Zenawi, prime minister of Ethiopia. [3] [4] The choice of recipient received criticism in Norway from human rights organisations and exiled Ethiopians, due to his political history. [5] [6] [7] [8] About 1 000 people demonstrated against the award being given to him. [8] Human Rights Watch stated that
Indeed, Prime Minister Meles has poured more resources into agricultural development than most African leaders. But as Human Rights Watch has found, the prime minister’s government exploits its control over fertilizer and other vital agricultural inputs to keep the country’s huge rural population under tight political control. [9]
In 2016, the Yara Prize became the Africa Food Prize, a $100,000 annual award. [10] [11] As of 2021, the Africa Food Price Committee is chaired by Olusegun Obasanjo, former president of Nigeria. [12]
The first Africa Food Price winner was Kayano F. Nwanze, president of the International Fund for Agricultural Development. Obasanjo stated that "Dr. Nwanze's accomplishments on behalf of African farmers are a reminder of what's possible when you combine passion, good ideas, commitment, focus, hard work and dedication." [13] [14]
The government of Ethiopia is the federal government of Ethiopia. It is structured in a framework of a federal parliamentary republic, whereby the prime minister is the head of government. Executive power is exercised by the government. The prime minister is chosen by the lower chamber of the Federal Parliamentary Assembly. Federal legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of parliament. The judiciary is more or less independent of the executive and the legislature. They are governed under the 1995 Constitution of Ethiopia. There is a bicameral parliament made of the 108-seat House of Federation and the 547-seat House of Peoples' Representatives. The House of Federation has members chosen by the regional councils to serve five-year terms. The House of Peoples' Representatives is elected by direct election, who in turn elect the president for a six-year term.
Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east and northeast, Kenya to the south, South Sudan to the west, and Sudan to the northwest. Ethiopia covers land area of 1,112,000 square kilometres. As of 2023, it is home to around 116.5 million inhabitants, making it the 13th-most populous country in the world, the 2nd-most populous in Africa after Nigeria, and the most populated landlocked country on Earth. The national capital and largest city, Addis Ababa, lies several kilometres west of the East African Rift that splits the country into the African and Somali tectonic plates.
Norman Ernest Borlaug was an American agronomist who led initiatives worldwide that contributed to the extensive increases in agricultural production termed the Green Revolution. Borlaug was awarded multiple honors for his work, including the Nobel Peace Prize, the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Gold Medal.
Meles Zenawi Asres was an Ethiopian soldier and politician who served as President of Ethiopia from 1991 to 1995 and then Prime Minister of Ethiopia from 1995 until his death in 2012.
Yara International ASA is a Norwegian chemical company. It produces, distributes, and sells nitrogen-based mineral fertilizers and related industrial products. Its product line also includes phosphate and potash-based mineral fertilizers, as well as complex and specialty mineral fertilizer products.
The Eritrean–Ethiopian War, also known as the Badme War, was a major armed conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea that took place from May 1998 to June 2000. After Eritrea gained independence from Ethiopia, relations were initially friendly. However, disagreements about where the newly created international border should be caused relations to deteriorate significantly, eventually leading to full scale war. According to a 2005 ruling by an international commission, Eritrea broke international law and triggered the war by invading Ethiopia. By 2000, Ethiopia held all of the disputed territory and had advanced into Eritrea. The war officially came to an end with the signing of the Algiers Agreement in 12 December 2000; however, the ensuing border conflict would continue on for nearly two decades.
The Anyuak, also known as Anyuaa and Anywaa, are a Luo Nilotic ethnic group inhabiting parts of East Africa. The Anuak belong to the larger Luo family group. Their language is referred to as Dha-Anywaa. They are primarily found in Gambela Region in western Ethiopia, and South Sudan. Group members number between 200,000 and 300,000 people worldwide. Many of the Anyuak people now follow Christianity. It is one of the first of the Nilotic groups to become almost entirely Christian, following the Shilluk people.
Azeb Mesfin Haile is an Ethiopian politician who was the second First Lady of Ethiopia from 2001 to 2012. Azeb is the widow of Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi. She is the founder and patron of National Initiative for Mental Health of Ethiopia. In early 2009, she was appointed CEO of the Endowment Fund for the Rehabilitation of Tigray by its head Abadi Zemu.
Eleni Zaude Gabre-Madhin is an Ethiopian-born Swiss economist, and former chief executive officer of the Ethiopia Commodity Exchange (ECX). She has had many years of experience working on agricultural markets – particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa – and has held senior positions in the World Bank, the International Food Policy Research Institute (Washington), and United Nations (Geneva).
The premiership of Meles Zenawi began in August 1995 following the 1995 Ethiopian general election and ended upon his death on 20 August 2012. Whilst serving as Prime Minister of Ethiopia, Meles Zenawi concurrently served as the Leader of the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) and Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF).
Agnes Matilda Kalibata is a Rwandan agricultural scientist and policymaker, and president of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA). She served as Rwanda's minister of agriculture and animal resources from 2008 to 2014 and began her tenure as president of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) in 2014.
The Declaration on the Rights of Peasants is an UNGA resolution on human rights with "universal understanding", adopted by the United Nations in 2018. The resolution was passed by a vote of 121-8, with 54 members abstaining. The declaration has been interpreted to be in support of the seed sovereignty movement.
Catherine Nakalembe is an Ugandan remote sensing scientist and an associate research professor at the University of Maryland (UMD) in the Department of Geographical Sciences and the NASA Harvest Africa program Director. Her research includes drought, agriculture and food security.
The Tigrayan peace process encompasses the series of proposals, meetings, agreements and actions that aimed to resolve the Tigray War.
Abiy Ahmed's tenure as prime minister of Ethiopia began on 2 April 2018 with his swearing-in at the Ethiopian parliament, succeeding Hailemariam Desalegn. Abiy is the first person of Oromo descent to hold the office, and became chair of the ruling Prosperity Party after the dissolution of the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) in November 2019.
The 1995 Ethiopian Federal Constitution formalizes an ethnic federalism law aimed at undermining long-standing ethnic imperial rule, reducing ethnic tensions, promoting regional autonomy, and upholding unqualified rights to self-determination and secession in a state with more than 80 different ethnic groups. But the constitution is divisive, both among Ethiopian nationalists who believe it undermines centralized authority and fuels interethnic conflict, and among ethnic federalists who fear that the development of its vague components could lead to authoritarian centralization or even the maintenance of minority ethnic hegemony. Parliamentary elections since 1995 have taken place every five years since enactment. All but one of these have resulted in government by members of the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) political coalition, under three prime ministers. The EPRDF was under the effective control of the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), which represents a small ethnic minority. In 2019 the EPRDF, under Abiy, was dissolved and he inaugurated the pan-ethnic Prosperity Party which won the 2021 Ethiopian Election, returning him as prime minister. But both political entities were different kinds of responses to the ongoing tension between constitutional ethnic federalism and the Ethiopian state's authority. Over the same period, and all administrations, a range of major conflicts with ethnic roots have occurred or continued, and the press and availability of information have been controlled. There has also been dramatic economic growth and liberalization, which has itself been attributed to, and used to justify, authoritarian state policy.
On 24 May 1993, Eritrea gained independence from Ethiopia after a United Nations-sponsored referendum which had 99.8-percent Eritrean support for independence. Isaias Afwerki became president of Eritrea after defeating the authoritarian Derg government during the 1974–1991 Ethiopian Civil War. Isaias became a totalitarian leader, and was accused by watchdogs of repression and purges of journalists, mass surveillance, arbitrary detention, lack of an independent judiciary body and freedom of association, press, and speech. In 2015, the United Nations Commission of Inquiry on Eritrea reported "systemic, widespread and gross human rights violations carried out in a context of total lack of rule of law".
The following events detail foreign affairs dominated by Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi from his presidency until his death in 2012.
Meles Zenawi, who led Ethiopia as Prime Minister since 1995 and the chairman of the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) since 1988, died on 20 August 2012 from undisclosed illness. Meles has been absent to public throughout a month and did not attend African Union summit in Addis Ababa. It was also speculated that he has been in poor health condition and expected to recover before the Ethiopian New Year on 11 September 2012.
Ethiopia retains capital punishment while not ratified the Second Optional Protocol (ICCR) of UN General Assembly resolution. Historically, capital punishments was codified under Fetha Negest in order to fulfill societal desire. Death penalty can be applied through approval of the President, but executions are rare.