The good news is that Africa has been re- focusing on Agriculture. In conjunction with the food processing sector, agriculture forms a significant part of the fragile African economies. There are compelling reasons for the new trend. Foremost is the uncertainty due to the volatility of the oil prices. That traction may be in continuum, given the importance being given globally for the clean energy for replacing the fossil fuel, a major pollutant.
Food security is the other reason. Africa will shortly have to feed over 1.3 billion people. Countries considered earlier as granaries of Africa, such as Nigeria have become net importers of food grains, boring huge holes in their foreign exchange kitty by way of excessive imports. External agencies are also putting pressure on individual countries to augment their agricultural production. Soft loans from multilateral organizations directly or indirectly put a condition of concrete steps towards food security. For instance, the AfDB’s US$10billion Covid-19 Response Facility included the delivery of climate-smart agricultural interventions to avert hunger. The African multilateral bank’s (AfDB’s) Feed Africa Response to Covid-19 is aiming at regional self-sufficiency in African food systems. Undoubtedly, these are proactive steps, which can yield the desired results, provided the individual countries implement steps towards food security in the domestic policy apparatus.
Amidst these urgencies staring at the continent, some of the developments are disturbing, to say the least. The relative size of the agriculture sector has been gradually but steadily declining over the past decades. Back in 1990, agriculture accounted for one-fifth of the total GDP of sub-Saharan Africa. It declined to 18% by 2000 and 15% in 2015. According to projections by the FAO, this figure will fall to 13% by 2029. The sliver lining is that agricultural trade, production and yield are expected to increase over the same period.
The Africa Agriculture Status Report 2020 published by the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), revealed that cropland expansion and improved access to inputs, such as fertilizer and higher-yielding seeds helped gross production value increase by 11% between 2010 and 2016. The FAO and the OECD anticipate a further increase of 21% in agricultural and fish production between 2020 and 2029 in sub-Saharan Africa.
Despite these positive developments on the horizon, feeding 1.3 billion populations which is still growing, is a difficult proposition. Some radical solutions should be evolved to get over the cliff hanger. Foremost, among them should be Africa becoming a granary of the world. Over 70% of the land mass in the continent is cultivable and endowed with water. Such a fertile land mass can be used not only for feeding 1.3 billion people but also for extending food security to seven billion world population. Acreage that can be brought to agriculture in many countries is limited unlike in African countries. Undoubtedly, that needs checks and balances so that the land is given only for a specified time on lease and not perpetually to avoid any wrong doing or arm twisting by the countries and people who are taking them on lease. A model lease agreement should be created by the African Union to be followed as a guideline for individual countries to follow. The added advantage is the leasing companies will bring better technology, improved seeds, set up facilities for processing and importantly explore marketing outlets for products grown in the continent.
Some of the horticultural cash crops grown in Africa have a huge global demand, such as Coco, Avocado, blue berries, cashew nuts etc. For instance, Ivory Coast and Ghana are the leading producers of Cocoa. Avocados and blueberries are grown in several countries. It is a common knowledge that the farmers who are growing these items are getting only pittance and the profits are mostly cornered by the middle men and end user industries. It is important to evolve a mechanism for pricing such products so that farmers become a major stakeholder of the crop, as against what is happening now.
Happily, there are some discernible shifts in the intra-continent trade transactions since AfCFTA has become operational, particularly in the movement of food crops, fruits and vegetables. Yet, that is only a marginal uptake. Given the challenges lying ahead, there should be a remarkable turnaround in all sectors, particularly agriculture.
