Agriculture: Catalyst For Africa’s Development

Mr Joseph Dekina, a 55-year-old farmer in Ujoh village in Bassa Local Government Area of Kogi, has sustained his family of six with proceeds from his farm over the years.

   These days, however, he can barely make ends meet as he is going through some harrowing times.

This is because his continued use of traditional farming implements cannot enable him to record appreciable yields and by extension, improve his earnings.

Dekina is like most farmers in African countries who eke a living via subsistence farming. To this group of farmers, mechanised farming is still a mirage.

However, the problem has been eliciting a lot of concern from various governments of African countries and they came together in Abuja from March 8 to 10, to examine the issues at stake.

The meeting was designated the High-Level Conference on the Development of Agri-Business and Agro-Industries in Africa (HLCD-3A).

The African leaders sought to redress the perceptible problems and accord agriculture its rightful place as a major contributor to economic growth on the continent.

Three African heads of state, ministers from 42 African countries, senior policy makers and representatives of financial institutions attended the summit.

The summit’s goal was also to share the countries’ experience in efforts to promote competitive agro-industries and thus foster international collaboration.

The Federal Government and UNIDO jointly sponsored the meeting, with support from other international agencies.

In 2008, the Global Agro-Industries Forum (GAIF) was held in India. It was then organised by the UN Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO), the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).

In spite of these efforts, current records of the UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) indicate that food importation by African nations costs about 33 billion U.S. dollars annually.

Furthermore, about three billion-dollar worth of food aid come into the continent annually.

Observers say that this development is a source of concern to many African economists and agriculturalists, particularly as Africa has been unable to attain food security in spite of her vast arable lands.

Mr Abdoulie Janneh, the Executive Secretary of UNECA, decried Africa’s huge reliance on food importation and noted that it was partly fuelled by urban demand for processed foods.

He also lamented that FAO statistics had shown that Africa was home to 265 million of the world’s 915 million under-nourished people.

Janneh stressed that efforts to develop agriculture for sustainable economic growth must necessarily go beyond the narrow confines of farming.

Dr Goodluck Jonathan, who was then Nigeria’s Acting President, also bemoaned the neglect of agriculture in Africa.

Commenting on the Nigerian experience, Jonathan said that although the country was blessed with abundant arable lands, favourable climate and other natural factors favourable to agriculture, the resources were not fully harnessed.

He blamed the development partly on poor private sector investment in the agriculture value chain, which encompassed agricultural production, processing, storage and marketing.

Sharing similar sentiments, Janneh stressed the need to adopt an integrated approach at all stages to improve productivity and efficiency.

For Jonathan, the Nigerian experience is illustrative of the degree of neglect of agriculture in Africa.

According to him, Nigeria’s land mass consists of 28.3 million hectares of arable land, 2.5 million hectares of forest and woodland with 7.3 million hectares and 853-km coastland for aquatic production.

“Nigeria’s large population of about 150 million also offers a unique investment opportunity and a ready market for agricultural products,’’ Jonathan said.

However, analysts opine that Nigeria has not fully tapped these huge potential to attain self-sufficiency in food production, as food importation is still taking its toll on the country’s foreign exchange.

Jonathan blamed the trend partly on the limited private sector investment in the agriculture value chain beyond production, to areas such as processing, storage and marketing.

He said that the agriculture sector had also suffered from weak productive and trade capacities, induced by the reduced supply and quality of agricultural commodities.

There are other factors, including high production costs and high interest rates, according to Jonathan.

Economists argue that some of the challenges include infrastructural deficiencies, such as poor road network, inadequate electricity supply and obsolete equipment, as well as inadequate extension service delivery.

They also claim that poor human capacity development, ailing institutional capacity, limited access and non-availability of agricultural inputs, coupled with the negative impact of smuggled and imported agricultural produce, are part of the problems.

Dr Kandeh Yumkelle, the Director-General of UNIDO, stressed that energy problems had hindered agricultural development in Africa.

His words: “Africa and indeed Nigeria cannot make any meaningful impact in agriculture and manufacturing without electricity.

“It is a shame that most of our cities cannot guarantee a 24-hour power supply. This impacts negatively on manufacturing and agriculture.’’

However, the agricultural situation in Africa is not totally gloomy, as some countries such as Egypt, Algeria and South Africa have some success stories to tell.

The Egyptian Minister of Agriculture, Mr Amin Abaza, said that his country had concentrated efforts on the development of ports, roads and energy as a means of developing its agricultural sector.

According to him, 99 per cent of Egyptian villages now have access to electricity.

“We have in the last 25 years made a lot of progress; we have tried to minimise losses in agriculture, while adding value to products through our industries,’’ Abaza said.

“I am a great believer in Africa; I think that this century will be Africa’s century. We have a lot of potential, plenty untapped resources,’’ he added.

The Minister of Agriculture for Botswana, Mr Christian De Graff, spoke on the implications of the projected increase in the world’s population vis-à-vis agricultural production.

He warned that the projected increase, by three billion, in the world’s population in 2050, would require a 70-per-cent increase in Africa’ food production.

On agricultural finance, Malam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), said that funding of agriculture in Nigeria, for instance, had been dismal and needed to be improved.

“The percentage of banks’ credit to the sector in Nigeria progressively declined from 17.5 per cent in 2007; many rural farmers have little or no access to financial services from institutions,” he said.

A major feature of the conference was the launch of the African Agri-business and Agro-industries Development Initiative (3ADI).

The initiative is a joint effort by UNIDO, FAO, IFAD, UNECA, the African Union (AU) and the African Development Bank (AfDB).

It is expected that the 3ADI will transform the agriculture sector in Africa into a highly productive and profitable value chain by 2020.

Chief Achike Udenwa, Nigeria’s former Minister of Commerce and Industry, said that the initiative represented African countries’ commitment to meeting the goal of improving national incomes, food security and the people’s well-being.

“It identifies agricultural innovations and prioritisation as imperatives for Africa to cope with its various developmental challenges.

“Africa needs to promote economic growth and integration at regional and global markets that will lead to sustained poverty reduction,’’ Udenwa said.

The summit’s participants unanimously agreed to initiate plans that would promote the establishment of appropriate financing mechanism to support the initiative’s implementation.

De Graff described the conference as “very fruitful’’ and stressed that financial institutions were needed to support the efforts of African countries to develop their agriculture sectors.

The participants also resolved to enhance strategies for development, planning and policy implementation through improved capacities and linkages of public agencies in charge of agriculture, agri-business and agro-industries.

Besides, they pledged to fast-track the implementation of regional trade agreements, while initiating additional measures to remove barriers to intra-regional trade.

They also promised to harmonise standards in the production, processing, storage and marketing of agro products.

Mr Youspha Kah, Gambia’s Minister for Economic, Planning and Industrial Development, however, urged African states and their development partners to work closely for a well-coordinated and articulated development of agri-businesses and agro-industries on the continent.

“I wish to call on our development partners and the private sector to provide the requisite financial resources to finance agri-business in Africa, in line with the goals of the 3ADI.

“Our partnership can only be meaningful and beneficial if such resources are provided,’’ Kah said.

Agricultural experts and economists have expressed the hope that the conference would transcend the level of mere deliberation to a level where pragmatic decisions and actions would be taken to address Africa’s agricultural problems.

They urge the private and public sector organisations, as well as financial institutions to collaborate in this direction so as to enable Africa to attain self-sufficiency in food production by 2020.

Yusuf writes for NAN.

Grace Yusuf