VACS Phase II Technical Workshop Fact Sheet

The Vision for Adapted Crops and Soil (VACS) Phase 2 Technical Workshop took place November 28-29, 2023 in New York City hosted by The Rockefeller Foundation. The workshop convened global leaders in nutrition, agriculture, science, and climate modeling to crystallize an indicative list of the most important traditional and nutritious African crops that show tremendous resilience to climate change. The workshop was planned by the VACS Steering Committee, including the U.S. government, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, and the African Union as well as technical partners AgMIP, Havos.Ai, and the African Orphan Crops Consortium.

The workshop began with remarks from Dr. Lindiwe Sibanda (CGIAR) and Special Envoy Dr. Cary Fowler (State Department) highlighting the importance of a systematic crop identification process and recognizing agriculture innovation leadership. AgMIP presenters Dr. Cynthia Rosenzweig, Dilys MacCarthy, and Alex Ruane led a discussion of climate change assessments and opportunity crop productivity. Bridget Homes and David Laborde from the FAO gave an overview of crop nutrient composition work and led a discussion on the incentives for investing in VACS opportunity crops.

The Shamba Center led a focus group on scaling up VACS seed production. Jess Fanzo and Lew Ziska presented on the climate change impacts to crop nutrient content, and presenters Kevin Karl and Ramni Jamnadass incorporated nutrition into key findings from opportunity crop profiles.

The second day included a fonio case study by Jaron Porciello and Michel Ghanem. Presenters Roberto Valdivia and Joseph Clottey presented a case study of Navrongo. The participants of the summit brainstormed promising intervention strategies, and paths to implementation, with particular attention to supply and demand models for retailers and consumers.

A final summary report from the Phase 1 and Phase 2 workshops will be released in 2024.