Kenarava Group Leads the Continental Conversation on “Youth for Traditional Veggies” at the World Vegetable Center’s All-Africa Summit 2021

Kenarava Group Ltd. collaborated with the World Vegetable Center and iAgribizAfrica in hosting the Youth Panel at the #PowerOnYourPlate All-Africa Summit in Arusha, Tanzania.

Figure 1: Members of the Youth Panel at the PowerOnYourPlate All-Africa Summit in Arusha, Tanzania.

The 4-member Youth Panel formed a critical part of the World Vegetable Center’s 3-day All-Africa Summit on diversifying food systems with Traditional African Vegetables (TAVs).

The Youth Panel was moderated by Mr. Ronald Diang’a, KENARAVA’s Executive Chair, who guided 4 panelists in unpacking the role of young people in advancing the continental agenda on TAVs.

Figure 2: (From L to R) Moderator Ronald Diang’a (Kenarava, Kenya), Glory Daniels (Kinshaga Foods, Tanzania), Kenneth Chepkwony (Kenarava, Kenya), Jannette Jerotich (Farmer, Kenya), Eric Onchonga (Irrihub, Kenya)

Speaking at the event, KENARAVA’s Vice Chair Mr. Kenneth Chepkwony called for increased institutional investment in innovative awareness campaigns to bring mass attention to TAV trade and consumption – he drew his thoughts from the need to sensitize the public on the unique role of TAVs for community nutrition, wealth creation and employment.

The Youth Panel addressed both in-person and virtually-hosted delegates comprising young farmers, youth-led organizations, scientific researchers, government representatives, civil society groups and private industry to engage experiences, skills and innovative solutions to create a robust TAV ecosystem.

Overall, the #PowerOnYourPlate Summit;

• Covered six subject areas that were captured in 64 scientific presentations.
• Hosted 175 in-person participants in Arusha, Tanzania; 312 registered ZOOM participants and an additional 200 persons tuned in via the WHOVA conference app.
• Was viewed on Live Facebook feed by more than 10,000 people. A check of the Twitter hashtag #PowerOnYourPlate revealed a parallel discussion on social media at the time of the event.

In his closing remarks, Dr. Gabriel Rugalema, Regional Director for the World Vegetable Center – Eastern and Southern Africa, acknowledged the success of the event in bringing the much-needed attention to TAVs as important drivers of health economic well-being to both farmers and consumers.

As a way forward, the event’s stakeholders agreed to move forward and build on outcomes of the Summit to get more nutritional power on everyone’s plate, every day, in Africa.

Figure 3: Dr. JJ Chen (Board Chair, World Vegetable Center) pledges his organization’s commitment to follow up on recommendations made at the #PowerOnYourPlate Summit.

To watch a recording of the Youth Panel, click here.