In the first G.A.P.P.A.P. webinar moderator Dick Veerman will ask the panellists Dr. Leo van Wissen (professor of demography, Groningen University), Dr. Niek Koning (emeritus ass. professor, agricultural economy and history, Wageningen University), Babatunde Olarewaju (agricultural consultant, Futex), Dr Ikechi Agbugba (ass. professor of Agricultural Economics Rivers State University) and Hugue Nkoutchou (Public Policy in Africa Initiative) about underdevelopment in Africa.

CABI calculated in a recent report 1.5x Africa’s GDP is unpaid in terms of labour in the fields. Sub-Saharan Africa combines high population growth and slow economic development. Economic development in Africa is in a vulnerable position and comes with many challenges. How to overcome these challenges? What are the actual causes of this underdevelopment? Can the continent do without developing its agricultural potential? Our panellists will discuss these questions during the first G.A.P.P.A.P. webinar.

The Global Agricultural Politics and Policy from an African Perspective webinar series (G.A.P.P.A.P.) is a joint effort of African Farmers Stories (Babatunde Olarewaju), Rivers State University (Dr. Ikechi Agbugba), Public Policy in Africa Initiative (Hugue Nkoutchou), AgriFoodNetworks (Dick Veerman) and Leiden-Delft-Erasmus Universities (Coen Hubers). The aim of G.A.P.P.A.P. is to start and moderate dialogue regarding agricultural development in Africa and mobilize a community of involved stakeholders. Nancy Nnaji (Moneyline with Nancy TV) and Dick Veerman will host the G.A.P.P.A.P. webinars.

The panellists
Dr Ikechi Agbugba (Rivers State University) is specialized in Agribusiness and Food and Agricultural Marketing. He has carried-out researches in this area for many years. His professional and career vision is geared towards contributing to the on-going transformation and developmental initiatives in rural communities and agro systems, enhancing decision-making processes and improvement of teaching and management support tools, as well as identifying and strengthening entrepreneurial capacities and potentials of communities through extension programmes in line with food and agribusiness activities, which will, to a reasonable extent halve poverty thereby ensuring food security.

Babatunde Olarewaju is an agricultural extension expert with Master of Philosophy Degree in Agricultural Extension and Rural Sociology from Obafemi Awolowo University. He is an alumnus of Lagos Business School and had undergone training with Harvard Business School online. He has over 6 years’ experience working on various projects in the field of agronomy, farm assessment, crop audit, food safety management system audit, quality management system audit, training, youth capacity building and development, gender equity, and community driven development and consulting.

Hugue Nkoutchou is a consultant in Economics, Public Policy, Project Finance & Africa. He is the founder of the Public Policy in Africa Initiative (PPAI), where he promotes promote evidence-informed policies, economic liberty, entrepreneurship, women’s empowerment, human rights, democracy, government integrity, effective and fair justice systems that help countries in Africa prosper in free, fair and sustainable economies. Besides, Hugue holds a PhD in finance from the University of Bath and is Economic Consultant at ABiQ Business Intelligence DWC-LLC.

Dr Niek Koning is an associate at the Centre for Sustainable Development and Food Security, and emeritus assistant professor of the Agricultural and Rural Policy Group, Wageningen University, the Netherlands. He is the author of Food Security, Agricultural Policies and Economic Growth: Long-Term Dynamics in the Past, Present and Future (Routledge 2017). He gives lectures and does short-term assignments related to international farm policy issues.

Dr Leo van Wissen is a professor of Economic Demography at Groningen University. His research interests include demographic modelling and forecasting, ageing, regional population change, spatial interaction, and regional modelling. He supervised more than twenty PhD’s on topics such as economic-demographic interactions, migration, regional demographic change, ageing, health and wellbeing, population decline, and firm demography. He published numerous articles in international peer reviewed journals on each of these topics and is (co)author of a number of scientific books.