Episode 1: A Perspective on Sustainable Agriculture in Africa

• Introduction (approx. 0:00): Welcome to the first Meridian 17 podcast, focusing on European-African partnership in agriculture. Introduction of the guest, Nikolet, an agribusiness lawyer with 27 years of experience, working on seeds, partnerships, and emerging technologies like blockchain and AI.
• Understanding Wicked Problems (approx. 2:00): Nikolet explains "wicked problems" – interconnected issues like food security, water scarcity, and migration. Tackling these requires a holistic approach and acknowledging their dependence on each other. New technologies and global connectivity offer new opportunities to address these complex systems.
• Human-Centered Approach & Co-creation (approx. 5:00): The importance of a human-centered approach, reaching people on the ground, including those in remote areas, often via smartphones. Moving away from top-down solutions to co-creating with people is essential for true involvement.
• Sustainable Food Security Challenge (approx. 7:30): Discussing how to boost food security sustainably, considering health, planet, and prosperity simultaneously. Nikolet shares a perspective learned from an organization: focusing on highly productive industrial agriculture on small areas using new technologies (biotechnology, precision farming) to feed the population, while letting the rest of the land remain wild or untouched (rewilding). This approach is seen as a mix between technology ("wizards") and nature ("prophets").
• Roadblocks and Challenges (approx. 12:00): Identifying major roadblocks such as polarization, where people retreat into their own opinions. The difficulty for policymakers to understand the complex system and create effective policy is another challenge. The historical issue of big multinational companies creating dependency without considering the market for smallholder farmers is mentioned. Financing initiatives for millions of small farmers who offer no immediate return on investment is also a significant hurdle.
• Fostering the Two-Way Street / Growing Together (approx. 18:00): Exploring how to build a relationship between Europe and Africa that is a "two-way street" or, ideally, a process of "growing together". The traditional power dynamics are shifting, as knowledge and technology are now more accessible globally. The potential for co-creation, especially using blockchain, to create shared value is highlighted. The immense value of indigenous knowledge, particularly from the millions of smallholder women farmers, is crucial for biodiversity and developing better seeds through crossbreeding with wild varieties. Creating business modelsthat provide value in return for sharing this knowledge is necessary for systemic change.