Sustainable Energy for Food: a Multi-Donor Approach to Supporting Clean Energy for Agricultural Growth

12 June 2014. Bonn, Germany. Sustainable Energy for Food Challenges and solutions for sustainable energy use in the agriculture and food industry.

This GIZ-DIE symposium showed where the various stakeholders currently stand on this issue. It also examined which energy-smart solutions exist in our agri-food systems and investigate how to accelerate their broad-based roll-out.

In his keynote address, Tilman Altenburg from the German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE) explained the relevance of this topic and map out the challenges ahead. Brief inputs looked in greater depth at how much and what type of energy agri-food chains require, as well as explored sustainable energy options for a viable food industry.

The morning’s event took a close  look at innovative regional energy supply solutions and also showcased actual regional development experiences. The topic of energy and food is now firmly on the international cooperation agenda. Several donors, including Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), launched the international initiative Powering Agriculture: An Energy Grand Challenge for Development (PAEGC) in June 2012. 

The afternoon session focused on the initiative’s goals and how it intends to achieve them. It also showcased the online wiki platform Powering Agriculture, where you can find information, share knowledge and engage in exchanges with your colleagues in this field of specialisation. This was followed by three parallel working groups that will focus on specific aspects in more depth:

1. Working group 1: ‘Cooperation with the Private Sector’
2. Working group 2: ‘Energy Efficiency – A Potential Gain for Agro Industries’
3. Working group 3: ‘Optimising Agricultural Irrigation from an Energy Perspective’

Background:

Powering Agriculture: An Energy Grand Challenge for Development is a multi-year initiative focused on increasing food security and driving economic growth in the developing world through effective and affordable clean energy solutions for farmers.

This effort aims to bring renewable energy technologies to all points in the agricultural value chain, including on-farm uses like water pumping, cold storage to decrease post-harvest loss, and value-added processing like grinding or drying. USAID has been joined in these efforts by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), Duke Energy, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), and the African Development Bank and through the Powering Agriculture Energy Grand Challenge.