Africa Poised for Major Expansion of Food Production, Say Leading Experts
Gathered in Ouagadougou
Although Challenges Remain, Growing Evidence Supports Need for Investments in
Integrated Approaches to Bring Fruits of Science to Farmers in the Field
A major gathering of over 700 African
scientists, farmers, ministers, policymakers, and public and private sector
interests from across the continent and around the world concluded last month with a
firm consensus that African-led agriculture innovations are poised to move the
continent from “laggard” to “lion” in food production and economic development.
“Agriculture in Africa is turning around. But if we want to put the days of
stagnation firmly behind us, we need to foster a new era of collaboration that
links evidence-based solutions being developed by researchers to public and
private sector investments. None of us can work in isolation,” said Dr. Monty
Jones, Executive Director of the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA)
at 5th Agriculture Science Week and FARA General Assembly in Ouagadougou.
“The consensus coalescing around an integrated approach to agricultural
development will allow Africa to transition from being a perennial ‘laggard’ in
food production to a ‘lion’ on the move,” Jones added.
The gathering featured five days of intensive exchanges on how to increase
investments in African agriculture in the wake of the financial crisis and
priorities for mitigating the risks posed by globalization and climate change.
The FARA General Assembly occurred amidst growing interest from both inside and
outside of Africa on how to realize the continent’s untapped agricultural
potential. A report released earlier this month from McKinsey & Company predicts
Africa’s agriculture sector could rapidly advance from generating US $280
billion a year today in revenue to $500 billion by 2020 to as much as $880
billion by 2030. According to some estimates, Africa has 60 percent of the
world’s remaining arable land and an unmatched bounty of natural resources and
plant and animal biodiversity.
Jones and others at the General Assembly acknowledged that significant
challenges remain in addressing chronic food problems, as witnessed by the food
shortages now affecting Niger and other countries of the Sahel region. But they
insisted the overall trends across Africa are positive and noted that several
African nations are on track to reach the United Nations Millennium Development
Goal of cutting poverty in half by 2015.
For example, there were discussions at the conference of projects underway in
northern Nigeria, Mozambique, southern Niger, and Uganda that have brought
together research institutes, extension agents, and farmers’ organizations to
introduce improved crop varieties of staples. In Uganda, farmers are growing
NERICA rice varieties in upland areas that had never produced rice before.
Uganda is now a net-exporter of rice.
“We are seeing in these and many other initiatives underway today how the
process of integrating agriculture research for development (AR4D) can rapidly
deliver innovation,” said Denis Kyetere, Director General, National Agricultural
Research Organization (NARO), Uganda, and Chairman of FARA’s Executive Board.
Among the many themes that emerged during the week was the need for more direct
links between the researchers who are developing improved seeds and new farming
techniques for Africa’s challenging, rain-fed conditions and the farmers who
must implement them. Farmer groups in particular made it clear that they must
have a voice in establishing research priorities.
“Smallholder farmers in Africa are researchers are in their own right,” Abiel
Banda, Vice President of the Southern African Confederation of Agricultural
Unions (SACAU). “Where there is an identification of indigenous technology by
farmers, researchers must recognize it. They need us as much as we need them.”
This theme was echoed by Hon. Mr. Venâncio Simăo Massingue, Mozambique’s
Minister of Science and Technology. He described the creation in “virtual
knowledge centers” that link the country’s farm scientists to rural communities
and direct researchers to identify problems and create solutions.
“When my scientists go into the field, I ask them not to even take bottled water
and mosquito repellents. They need to understand the conditions in the community
if they are going to understand their problems,” he said.
The FARA meeting also revealed a deepening commitment from governments to
pursuing agriculture-driven economic growth.
Ministers from several African countries were on hand to announce their
commitment the African Union’s Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development
Program (CAADP). There are now 19 countries in Africa that through CAADP have
adopted a common approach to agriculture development that includes a commitment
to increasing agriculture production by 6 percent each year and allocating 10
percent of government budgets to the farm sector. Burkina Faso signed the CAADP
compact on the final day of the General Assembly.
Harvard University’s Calestous Juma said effectively using government funds and
policies to improve agriculture means decision makers must pay greater attention
to emerging technology trends.
“Rapid scientific advancement and constant changes in the global knowledge
ecology require African leaders at all levels to start creating institutions for
scientific advice and analysis,” he said. “Agricultural innovation could be the
first beneficiary of informed advice from such bodies.”
But it was widely noted at the conference that government action alone is
insufficient.
“Despite the progress we have achieved in strengthening funding for the
agriculture sector, our investment needs remain huge and efforts are needed to
find more support,” said Hon. Dr. Laurent Sedogo, Burkina Faso’s Minister’s of
Agriculture, Water Resources and Fisheries.
In a discussion on financing, Namanga Ngongi, president of the Alliance for a
Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), said that farmers needed more consistent
access to capital to increase adoption of new technologies. He pointed out that
“agriculture contributes 40 percent of GDP and employs 70 percent of the labor
force in Africa but it receives only 2 percent of commercial bank loans.”
AGRA’s efforts to use credit guarantees to facilitate farmer financing in
Tanzania, Mozambique, Ghana, and Kenya have “unlocked” $160 million for
smallholder farmers, local agro-dealers and others across the agriculture value
chain, according to Ngongi.
Other issues highlighted at the conference included:
Efforts underway across the continent to balance food production needs with the
potential for biofuels to provide both income and energy for agriculture
enterprises.
The growing role of the BRIC countries--Brazil, India and China--in financing
agriculture and other development projects in Africa.
Issues related to the use of biotechnology on Africa farms, including
presentations on a program that is developing transgenic high-yield and
drought-tolerant corn.
The importance of Africa’s plant and livestock biodiversity to addressing the
challenges of food production, which included warnings that disease and drought
resistant breeds that have evolved over thousands of years in Africa are at risk
of being lost to various pressures, including cross-breeding with more
productive but less resilient European and North American cattle.
“If countries can maintain the positive momentum, Africa will soon be in a
position of unprecedented strength,” said Monty Jones. “The challenge we put to
our FARA members is to develop the relationships between researchers and
farmers, between the public and the private sector, to create a platform for
progress.”
Jones added, “The only way for Africa to move forward is from a position of
strength. Ultimately, the solution to our food challenges will come not from
charity, but from investment.” - FARA
More information:
 For more
information please visit: www.faraweek.org.
|
