Nine steps to make continent food-secure and turn farms into profitable enterprise

Fresh produce at a market in Nyeri County. African leaders have committed to new priorities, strategies and concrete targets to achieve food and nutrition security. FILE PHOTO | JOSEPH KANYI |  NATION MEDIA GROUP

In Summary

• How can we make Africa the world’s new bread basket?
• Urgent action is needed on some fundamental areas if Africa is to reach its agricultural potential.

By KOFI ANNAN
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Leaders meeting in Davos this week are confronted with some critical challenges.

One of them is how to realise the bright prospects of African agriculture.

Investment in this sector has doubled in the past decade as governments recognise the crucial importance of agriculture to the well-being of the people, social stability, and economic growth.

Yet for all the progress in recent years, hunger remains widespread and Africa is the only continent which cannot feed itself.

It is hard to understand how the continent, with 60 per cent of the world’s uncultivated arable land, still suffers from under and mal-nutrition and spends $35 billion every year importing food.

So, what are the barriers preventing Africa from realising its potential to not just feed itself but begin exporting to the rest of the world? How can we make Africa the world’s new bread basket?

Shortly after the African Union’s summit in Malabo, which saw bold commitments to end hunger by 2025 through accelerating agricultural growth and transformation, I met with leaders from the public and private sector at the African Green Revolution Forum 2014 to discuss strategies to make this happen.

URGENT ACTION NEEDED

This week we are publishing the report on the outcome of these discussions. It is a detailed report but it was clear that urgent action is needed on some fundamental areas if Africa is to reach its agricultural potential.

First, the role of smallholder farmers, who make up the vast majority of growers and breeders, is crucial.

Governments and the private sector can develop partnerships and expand links with smallholders and farmers’ organisations, filling critical gaps along the food system value chain.

The greatest success will come if bigger farms share market access, technology, and knowledge with smaller farmers.

Second on the list, and this comes as no surprise, is the need for better rural infrastructure.

Bring the booming economy to the hinterlands by connecting thousands of farmers to a viable road network, power grid, irrigation systems, and essential infrastructure.

Third, to create an environment conducive to agricultural productivity growth, governments need to put into place institutions and policies that are far-sighted, can be sustained beyond the tenure of particular elected officials, and promote long-term benefit over short-term gain.

Fourth, increase access to financial services for farmers and growing agri-businesses. Enabling a farmer to acquire good seeds and use soil fertility-enhancing measures is the first step out of poverty.

CLIMATE CHANGE

Fifth, now — and even more so in the future — successful farmers are those who find viable solutions to dealing with climate change.

Climate-smart agricultural solutions can improve food security and farming resilience by increasing productivity compared to conventional approaches.

Sixth, regional barriers, from tariffs to transportation cartels, are restricting trade. If a farmer cannot sell his produce in the next country, it is much more difficult to develop a profitable business.

Seventh, mobilise our young people and empower the women. When a continent has both the highest rate of youth unemployment and an agricultural sector desperately in need of more labour, something is amiss.

Eighth, give those in the agricultural sector better access to information, via mobile phones and the internet. If we do, they will find the ways to revolutionise farming, food production, and the rural economy in the way technology and consumer power changed Africa’s banking industry.

Lastly, increase yields without harming the environment by investing in applied research. Developing locally-adapted varieties that are also drought-tolerant will be increasing important priorities as the impacts of climate change become more extreme.

The goal must be a uniquely African green revolution which successfully adapts global experiences — good and bad — to local conditions.

It is a vision that decisively shifts away from subsistence farming to growing profitable businesses. It puts smallholder farmers at its heart and understands that larger enterprises also have a major part to play.

Tackling these points will not just feed people in Africa but turn the once starving continent into the world’s agriculture powerhouse.

Mr Annan is a former UN secretary general and founder of the Kofi Annan Foundation.