AGRA

His large, calloused hands and weather-beaten face could quickly identify the 86–year old Michael Waweru as hardworking. He is and no less. After he got training from his local Village-based Advisor (VBA), things just fell into place for Waweru’s family. “We now have enough food, not forgetting more income and happier lives,” the father of four says with both humility and pride. 

For many years Michael and his family had been harvesting meager yields because they were using inappropriate late-maturing varieties and poor agronomic practices. AGRA’s partners have been part of supporting his family through the improvement of farmer extension service delivery by the County Government to introduce early-maturing maize varieties, and train farmers in Good Agronomic Practices (GAP) to improve food security.

He beams brightly as the sweet realization that, “There is money in agriculture,” throwing away the notion associating agriculture with being poor and dirty. 

From his low-yielding to now a promising garden, hope has sprung in his home. Before enjoying the benefits of the training and improved seeds, food was scarce in his family. More often, they harvested food and had none to store for future use. But now they can harvest enough maize, save what they need until the next farming season and still have some extra to sell. Some of the proceeds from the selling has enabled him to achieve his dreams. He now has five cows, four goats, over 20 chickens, which help to supplement their diet with more protein, a diet that was once imbalanced. 

He also has a water tank and harvests rainwater that supports the family and domestic animal consumption as well.

Michael rests in his homesteads and occasionally walks around to survey his achievements that, though have come at old age, are a treasure. His once less productive land is now filling with improved crops. “We have enough food, but now we are inspired to aim higher by working hard and together,” he says. 

One of his children, Veronica Nyakio, has taken up farming, and she too has a long story to tell after just two years of adopting the Good Agronomic Practices. 

“We are thankful to AGRA ‘s partners for helping open our minds to new ideas. We realized that there are better ways of doing things. It changed our attitude towards farming and also life in general,” he concludes. 

AGRA believes that agricultural technologies and practices can only have a positive effect if they are communicated and implemented by farmers and end-users. Extension is the mechanism by which this process is achieved. Within our five-year strategy, one of the biggest challenges is how to further the reach and impact of government extension agents and create demand for improved seeds, fertilizers, and other yield-enhancing inputs. The ratio of extension staff to farmers in most of our target countries is 1:5,000. We aim to improve this ratio to 1:500.

Recognizing the growing role of the private sector in the lives and livelihoods of Africa’s farmers, our extension approach involves identifying and training self-employed village-based advisors (VBAs). VBAs are ‘lead farmers’ who are selected to share technologies and knowledge locally with fellow farmers. With connections to input companies, they help to promote quality seeds and fertilizers, together with good agricultural practices. This model has been particularly successful in Kiambu County, Kenya.

AGRA works through the Partnership for Inclusive Agricultural Transformation In Africa (PIATA). This is a unique strategic partnership launched in 2017 that enables African agriculture actors to do business differently as they support leaders to drive an inclusive agricultural transformation. PIATA members include the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) the UK Department for International Development (DFID) and the German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development, BMZ.

By Nancy Okwengu

Des Moines, Iowa, and Accra, Ghana, are 6,000 miles from each other. This distance was bridged in recent weeks when these very different cities, in very different parts of the world, hosted two critically important symposiums on global food security.

The conferences reinforced each other with similar messages and goals.  The goals identified at both meetings were global food security, eliminating hunger by focusing on increased agriculture production to drive the local economies and establishing peace through agriculture.  

The World Food Prize was established in Des Moines by Dr. Norman Borlaug in 1986, the only person to ever win the Nobel Peace Prize for his work in agriculture.  He became known as the father of the “green revolution,” creating new and improved seeds for Mexico, seeds that then spread to India and Asia. His last dream was to extend the green revolution to Africa and “take it to the farmers.”  Over the last 20 years Ambassador Ken Quinn has built the Prize into an extraordinary week-long meeting that brings together the world’s leading experts in agriculture.

The Prize symposium opened this year with Mark Green, the Administer of the United States Agency International Development, announcing the establishment of a new bureau for Resilience and Food Security to “bridge the gap between food assistance, humanitarian aid and food security, helping families and communities take ownership of their lives and livelihoods.” 

In Ghana, the former Secretary General of the United Nations, Kofi Annan, another winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, shared Borlaug’s dream but also recognized that Africa needed a unique and different approach to a green revolution.  Africa is composed of 54 sovereign countries with little in the way of extension services or infrastructure to reach rural smallholder farmers. 

With backing from the Gates and Rockefeller Foundations, Mr. Annan became the first Chairman of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa, AGRA. Dr. Agnes Kalibata, the President of AGRA and former Minister of Agriculture in Rwanda, hosted AGRA’s 10th Forum in Ghana in September. The Forum attracted 2,800 delegates from 79 countries.

The presence of the private sector has grown significantly along with the size of the event.  The African Union has urged all countries in Africa to devote at least 10 percent of their respective budgets to agriculture and the African Development Bank under the leadership of Dr. Akin Adesina is making investments in agriculture a major priority. Get the Register Opinion newsletter in your inbox.

Ambassador Quinn attended the Forum in Ghana and Dr. Kalibata hosted a panel in Des Moines on AGRA.  AGRA also joined with the Tony Blair Institute and the Volcani International Partnerships from Israel to release a report on Israeli agriculture and its applicability for developing countries.    

The President of the Democratic Republic on the Congo, H. E. Felix Tshisekedi, presented in Iowa and announced that the Congo and many African countries were making agriculture a priority for economic development. The Congo has been known for mining, but in the future there would be an emphasis on agriculture as a source of employment and income. This diversification is critical not just for Africa but also for global food security as Africa has more uncultivated and underutilized agriculture land than anywhere else in the world.  

Dr. Borlaug’s dream of a green revolution in Africa is taking root. Africa is “leapfrogging into the future” in the words of Dr. Kalibata. 

It is important to recognize the challenges ahead.  The agriculture technology that exists today is not yet reaching many of the farmers who live in very rural areas without roads to give them access to modern inputs and access to markets. The seeds must also be combined with education to convince farmers that the cost of seed and other inputs will increase yields enough to justify spending the precious few dollars they may have.  

While the challenges are significant, modern technology is helping and holds great promise.  Africa has advanced rapidly in communication and iPhones are being used for education and finance. While cell phones can’t deliver seeds, drones might be able to fill the gap.  

Beyond these logistical challenges, agriculture policies and regulations need to be harmonized across the continent and the new African Free Trade Agreement implemented. 

Africa has the potential to feed itself and those who gathered at the symposiums in Iowa and Ghana are focused on that mission.  Fulfilling the dreams of both Borlaug and Annan is within reach.

Marshall Matz, formerly Counsel to the Senate Committee on Agriculture, has specialized on global food security at OFW Law in Washington, D.C. for 40 years.

Ephraim Kofi Kenney does not like to work in the fields scaring pests away. But today he must.

A flock of migratory birds has repeatedly invaded his parents’ rice plot outside Accra, Ghana’s capital, and the 16-year-old has been tasked with keeping the invaders away from the young crop.

If he fails, there will be no harvest on the one-acre (half-hectare) farm this season.
“This work makes me very tired. I can lose my voice because of shouting at the birds,” said the youth, as he tugged at a rope attached to a bell he was using to scare off the hungry creatures.

“I wish there was a way to make it easier.”

Nearby, farmers and researchers are experimenting with one possible answer: A drone that can help farmers protect their crops from the effects of climate change and ward off hungry birds at the same time.

In a project run by the Netherlands-based Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA) rice farmers are being taught how to use drones to carry out jobs such as spraying fertilizer more efficiently and mapping scarce water sources, said George Madjitey, CEO of GEM Industrial Solutions.

But there turns out to be a bonus: The drones can emit a noise to keep the birds from undoing all the farmers’ hard work, said Madjitey, whose social enterprise is one of the local firms supplying drones for the project.

The drones cannot operate at all times – but they can help cut down on the need for work like Kenney’s, which can keep young people away from their studies.

As climate change brings more unpredictable and extreme weather, small-scale farmers are increasingly turning to technology to help them find ways to keep their farms sustainable, agricultural experts say.

While drones have become a staple in farming tool kits in many parts of the world, Ghana’s rice farmers are for the first time learning how the devices can help them adapt to the prolonged droughts the country is experiencing.

With dry spells killing crops and drying natural sources of food across Africa, migratory birds now spend more time feeding on grain fields they come across because they don’t know how long it will be before their next meal, said Kunga Ngece, a Nairobi-based development expert.

According to Madjitey, a single drone can scare away birds on a farm as large as three acres (1.2 hectares).

“The drone makes work easier for farmers because it can operate over a wide range of land. Also, the children are able to stay at home with their families and do their homework instead of being on the farm,” he said.

Complex problems

According to Ghana’s minister of food and agriculture, Owusu Afriyie Akoto, about 80% of the country’s farmers have been impacted by drought this year.

Crop yields have dropped by about 7% since a decade ago, and the country loses more than $200 million every year to droughts and flooding, he said in a press conference during the 2019 African Green Revolution Forum held in Accra.

Since the CTA launched its Eyes in the Sky, Smart Techs on the Ground project in Ghana three years ago, starting with cassava and cashew nut farmers, more than 2,800 farmers in rural Ghana have become involved, Madjitey said.

Rice farmers have been included since September, he said.

When farmers join the project, they organise into cooperatives of about 100 people. Each cooperative then pays for, uses and maintains a set of drones, which can cost upwards of $1,000 each, he said.

The farmers are grouped by neighbourhood, so a single drone can cover two or three farms each time it goes on a flight, said.

Usually, one or two farmers in each cooperative are trained to use the drones and they operate the devices for all the farmers in the group, he added.

“This ensures the technology reaches as many of them as possible,” Madjitey said, as he walked around an irrigation project in Kpong, one village involved in the drone effort.

The use of drones in agriculture is part of a global move toward technical innovations that allow farmers to work faster and more efficiently.

According to a report on the digitalisation of agriculture in Africa published by the CTA in June, technology can be a “game changer” in supporting and accelerating the industry across the continent.

“With so much at stake, it is no surprise that most African countries have prioritised agricultural transformation as a key pillar of their national strategies,” added the report.

Agnes Kalibata, president of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa, which works with small-scale farmers, said the continent’s farmers have long lagged behind the rest of the world when it comes to technological innovation.

“Africa has been going round and round in circles, but digital innovations now present an opportunity to change things. Drones are helping farmers solve complex problems in a simple way,” Kalibata told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

For example, she noted, drones can be used to collect field data – such as crop inventories or the status of irrigation infrastructure – over a wide area.

This data can help farmers and policymakers plan for and adapt to the ongoing effects of climate change, she said.

Young innovators

Helping farmers adapt to climate change also presents new business and job opportunities, said Giacomo Rambaldi, head of the drone project at CTA.

Since its launch, Eyes in the Sky has been working with business startups run by young people in more than 20 Africa countries, he explained.

The project trains youth in rural areas to operate agribusinesses, such as creating and selling innovations that can improve production for smallholder farmers.

“Some of them are doing really well. They are employing other people and they have quite successful operations,” said Rambaldi.

One reason drone technology has not seen more uptake among African farmers is that many African countries either have no laws regulating the operation of drones or ban their use by civilians, he noted.

In countries like Ghana where drone technology is allowed, however, some farmers are seeing the benefits.

As well as helping them save time and labour, farmers point out that drones cut down on the health risks associated with being in daily contact with chemicals on crops and microbes in muddy fields.

“Drones have taken away all these discomforts,” said Susan Fiebor, a farmer in the village of Asutsuare.

Originally published on WEF

A new study has been launched on the agricultural sector value chain with the aim of finding means of delivering value to the farmer.

It comes amid growing concerns that producers of agricultural commodities including tea and coffee are harvesting the least gains along the value chain.Richard Ngatia, the President of the Kenya National Chamber of Commerce and Industry, yesterday launched the study on the opportunities and challenges faced by Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) in the agricultural sector.It is a programme by the chamber in partnership with Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA). 

The study has the overall goal to contribute towards the development of an enabling environment for private sector growth in agriculture in Kenya. The study is also aimed at supporting successful change that can be used to accelerate the agenda for sustainable agricultural growth and development in the country.Ultimately, it is expected that the study will lead to evidence based policy making as a way of strengthening policy and advocacy engagement.In his speech, the Chamber President said the programme is clear evidence of the commitment by KNCCI to improve the lives of Kenyans through business in agribusiness, livestock and the realisation of the Big 4 Agenda on food security and nutrition.

Ngatia added that the Chamber is a crucial partner in the sector in relations to increasing value chains, reducing food losses and waste, improve market access and accelerate private investment into agriculture. KNCCI plans to strengthen and deepen its engagement with county governments through regional economic blocks which have been established to enhance the counties comparative advantage and economies of scale.The collection will take place at the county level using the CEOs of the county chapters as the data collection agents. In that regard, the chamber has embarked on training its county chief executive officers for them to get an appreciation of the research objectives and specially the research methodology.

Originally published on Standard Digital

At the UN Climate Action Summit, World Leaders Urged to Prioritize Building the Resilience of Smallholder Farmers Against Climate Emergency

The President of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa, Dr. Agnes Kalibata, has urged world leaders meeting in New York for the Climate Change Action Summit to increase efforts to build the resilience of smallholder farmers to cope with the ever worsening climate emergency. 

“Today, the world has an opportunity to decide the fate of 70% of the African population that earns a living off their farms as smallholder farmers. They feed Africa – producing 80% of the food we eat—and contribute 25% to the continent’s GDP. Africa’s prosperity depends on them. It is now common knowledge that growth in the agriculture sector is up to 11 times more effective at reducing poverty than growth in any other sector.  

“These farmers are increasingly seeing their livelihoods decimated by climate change resulting in significant increase in the severity and frequency of droughts and other weather extremes. Climate emergency is already a reality on our farms and has been linked to a rise in global hunger. Today, 27 million people are facing acute food shortage in the horn of Africa and the number might grow to 47 million if nothing is done.  

“This has been the trend in the last 4 years. Within this period, the number of people going hungry in Africa has grown by about 34.5 million people to a total of about 250 million people. This is a reversal of the decline witnessed until 2015 and is attributed to the climate emergency that has reduced the yield of key crops like maize by up to 40% in some regions. 

“The tragedy is that most climate investments are almost entirely focused on reducing emissions, not on helping people like African farmers adapt.  

“While reductions in emissions are welcome, the effects of global heating are already underway and will continue for decades. Adaptation is critical. Without it, these farmers could be part of the 100 million people that a new assessment from the Global Commission on Adaptation warns could be pushed below the poverty line by 2030.  

“We are seeing a groundswell of political and policy support for these farmers 

“Earlier this month, over 30 ministers of agriculture attending the annual African Green Revolution Forum (AGRF) in Accra, Ghana made a declaration on increasing the adaptation and resilience of African food systems. The declaration called on multilateral, bilateral and private sector partners to support increased funding focused on multiple climate-related challenges to food production in sub-Saharan Africa. 

“At this summit, we have seen the high-level political call to action on resilience and adaptation by ministers.  

“This level of political engagement is critical to ensuring that the world addresses the imbalance that exists between adaptation and mitigation.  

“Farmers are also leading the adaptation charge. In my visits across the continent, I have met farmers who are adapting to climate change by diversifying their crops to include drought-tolerant varieties of cassava, sweet potato, pigeon pea, beans and maize. There is also an explosion of new digital information platforms enabling farmers adapt to the new conditions in their fields that now include new pests and diseases.  

“However, this progress as usual will not deliver the results we need. We need to scale up existing technologies to yield a quantum leap in farmers’ agricultural productivity. These technologies include seed varieties that are adapted to local conditions; fertilizers that are specific to soil needs; and irrigation technologies that are suited to the needs of the farmers.  

“Adaptation also calls for significant increase in international public finance for adaptation to enable scaling up of these technologies; the involvement of the private sector, especially the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) that handle 64% of the food consumed on the continent. 

“It also calls for sustainable food and land use systems which, according to the Food and Land Use Coalition (FOLU), could unlock an estimated US$320 billion a year for Africa in new business opportunities by 2030 while restoring the health and resilience to the land, population and economy. 

“From where I sit, we must support smallholders to adapt to climate change; doing nothing is not a choice.” 

****END***

 Media Contacts:  

In New York: 

Andrew Cox, AGRA Chief of Staff and Strategy at acox@agra.org or Tel. No: +254 706 044 030 

In Nairobi: 

Waiganjo Njoroge, AGRA Interim Head of Communication at wnjoroge@agra.org or Tel. No: +254 723 857 270  

About AGRA: 

Established in 2006, AGRA is an African-led, Africa-based and farmer centered institution working to put smallholder farmers at the center of the continent’s growing economy by transforming their farming from a solitary struggle to survive to a business that thrives. Working in collaboration with our partners including African governments, researchers, development partners, the private sector and civil society AGRA’s work primarily focuses on smallholder farmers – men and women who typically cultivate staple crops on two hectares or less. In the new strategy for 2017-2021, AGRA is supporting 11 African countries and 30 million smallholder farm households (150 million individuals) to increase their incomes and improve their food security.  AGRA supports the findings of the Global Commission for Adaptation report, though the role by Dr. Kalibata as Commissioner, and the Just Rural Transition, which aims to sustainably support rural populations to sustainably develop.   For more information, visit www.agra.org, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube.  

By Thierry Hoza Ngoga, AGRA’s Head of Support to State Capability

State capability, the ability of government to administer effectively, defines a political system. A government must be able to produce and deliver economic and social goods as its populace expects, since if able to steer adequately its economic system, it will ultimately succeed. This makes the building of state capacity the one of the most transforming devices in African development.

In recent years, African governments, often working in partnership with third parties, have accelerated growth using new-style programmes to build public sector capacity. This has allowed governments to harness innovation, learn lessons from the past and enlist the enthusiasm of the leaders who matter.

Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) has found that supporting flagship programmes is one of the most effective ways in which it can support governments in their quest for agricultural transformation. Using global best practice to spearhead the targeting of resources unites activities under a single focus that can then be adapted by local offices. It allows smaller, ad hoc initiatives to continue alongside, but the strategic intent of a flagship program is the relentless focus on making an impact in a chosen issue area to deliver on a key priority of the government while leveraging its assets, operations and core capabilities. Most importantly, it is a way to tell the story in a way that is easy for others to join and support a flagship program. This is because it is clearer to see the intent and therefore buy in to it.

The design and launch of an inaugural agricultural flagship programme is critical as it becomes the template for future endeavours and provides a modus operandi for others to follow. A true standard-bearer program can only be the result of a collaborative process involving government players, private sector partners, development partners and other interested parties that all work together to hone the specific issues to tackle, allocate the necessary resources, forge the right partnerships for implementation and ensure a measurement framework is in place. Finally, it must be aligned to the government’s overarching agricultural development strategy and vision.

There are 5 key steps as to how AGRA supports governments to achieve an agricultural flagship program:

• The government, through responsible ministries, takes the lead and identifies a priority area within the National Agricultural Investment Plan (NAIP) or national development framework. While AGRA can provide the necessary technical support, ensuring adequate input from development partners and other stakeholders, the government owns the entire process and leads from the start.

• The government, through the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA), consults other relevant ministries, partner organisations, research institutes and NGOs to ensure the programme is fully representative, giving AGRA the opportunity to contribute to the process. These consultations can be done through the Agriculture Sector Working Group (ASWG).

• Based on these inputs AGRA, in collaboration with relevant ministry, drafts the terms of reference.

• A steering committee is initiated by the MoA to oversee the flagship design process and appoint relevant consultants. The committee initiates the design process ensuring everyone understands the tasks involved and expected outcomes, encapsulated in the terms of reference.

• The programme’s inception report will most likely be through the ASWG with the MoA ensuring all partners have the opportunity to have their comments included. Consultation meetings with AGRA’s technical teams follow and feed in the necessary expertise to the draft report submission. Once this is validated it can be handed over to the MoA to be presented to the various stakeholders and trigger the release of necessary resources.

The process embeds a tried and tested path to scaling up sustainable agriculture interventions while building institutions and systems. It includes a way of facilitating the role of private sector investors and brings together all key agricultural stakeholders in the effective delivery of agriculture programmes. By encapsulating the very best practice of leading light programmes with proven track records it is possible to emulate their success, build on lessons learnt and avoid past pitfalls, allowing governments to make the most of limited resources while enhancing their capabilities.

Strong partnerships with government and its understanding of the African agricultural landscape mean AGRA is ideally placed to support this process. They work with governments on the deliberate prioritisation of programmes at the highest level of leadership to produce up to date and evidence-based policies, including delivery mechanisms and mutual accountability frameworks. Supporting flagship programmes is key to helping millions of smallholder farmers in the quest to reduce poverty and hunger in Africa.

Africa is on the move, with signs of progress and growing prosperity for millions of its people. The lives and livelihoods of millions of people are improving, and entire economies are growing at a brisk pace with many of the world’s fastest growing economies being in Africa.

However, over a quarter of its population – 333 million people – remain food insecure and one in three people in Africa – 422 million – still live in extreme poverty.

As the continent’s population is expected to surge from 1.2 billion today to a projected 4 billion in only 80 years’ time, we can assume that the number of individuals whose life chances will suffer will also increase. Research by the Tony Blair Institute for its Jobs Gap report found that, on the current trajectory, there will remain a shortfall of 40 million jobs and livelihoods in Africa by 2050.

Countries that have prioritized agriculture have recorded notable progress. For example, in Ethiopia, 25 years of steady growth in the farm sector has cut rural poverty rates in half and in Rwanda, poverty has reduced by 25% over the same period.

Agriculture is the surest path to inclusive economic growth and job creation and evidence from around the world attests to this. No region has built a modern economy without first strengthening its agricultural sector. Agricultural transformation was critical in Europe, Asia and the Americas, serving as the launch pad for their industrial and services revolutions. The continent of Africa needs to follow suit and move from food shortages to surpluses, boost beneficial continental trade, and create millions of employment opportunities, particularly for women and young people.

If we are to secure the Sustainable Development Goals every effort must be made to every effort must be made now to ensure there is a combination of technology, entrepreneurship, inclusive market systems and effective governance. This latter ingredient is arguably the most critical because achieving scaled impact requires a conducive enabling environment that only governments, backed by visionary leadership, can provide.

Mr. Blair has been committed to supporting effective governance since his time as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. On leaving office he set up an organization to support Africa’s visionary leaders to achieve their development agendas and deliver improvements to the wellbeing of their citizens.

In 2020 we will mark 12 years of effective governance support and it is a fitting time to join forces in a new partnership with the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) to scale up our symbiotic, joint support to governments to drive their agriculture transformation agendas and achieve the goals of the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme.

In countries like Ghana, Kenya and Mozambique we now have a window of opportunity to support visionary leaders in this adaptive, smart way. Hence at the Africa Green Revolution Forum (AGRF) – Africa’s foremost agriculture convention – that took place in Accra, Ghana this year, Mr. Blair discussed the partnership and the themes the leadership of governments across Africa are asking for support in:

• centre of government ownership of the agriculture transformation agenda
• sector coordination and policy consistency, through politically smart adaptive management
• delivery of flagships and priorities
• scaling up agri-investment and trade
• private-sector dialogue
• government capacity strengthening
• digitalisation and technology
• enhancing decentralisation

The Tony Blair Institute and AGRA view this partnership launch as just the start and welcome the support of other partners. This could assist in the extending the partnership to cover these areas as well as extending the support to other key countries such as Nigeria and Burkina Faso. A synchronised approach by development partners to support state capability is essential.

Tony Blair said: “Twelve years ago I launched an initiative to provide visionary leaders in Africa with smart and adaptive support working to their development agenda. Today I am delighted to apply this successful model in partnership with AGRA to help achieve agriculture transformation and food security in Africa.”

Dr. Agnes Kalibata, AGRA President, said “I am delighted to strengthen our partnership with the Tony Blair Institute as we support governments in achieving agricultural transformation in Africa. This partnership, with others, can tackle the structural and policy constraints on our path to achieving agricultural transformation.”

The lessons of history are clear: where visionary leaders stepped up and delivered real change, agricultural and economic revolutions followed. Now is the time to back such leaders across the continent and address Africa’s food insecurity, malnutrition and large-scale poverty once and for all.

It is nearly one century and a half since man achieved flight, and 60 years since he cracked space. Doctors are conducting surgeries that made content for science fiction 40 years ago and humans, in general, are advancing at dizzying speeds.

Yet despite splitting the atom and converting the world into a global village, it is amazing that we have not found a solution for the plaguing food insecurity around the world.

It is estimated that one billion people globally are suffering from starvation and undernutrition, with the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations approximating that 239 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa go to bed hungry. There are risks that this figure could rise with the population expected to grow to two billion by 2050, up from the current 1,2 billion. And based on the trends of present day Africa food production systems, the continent will only meet 13 percent of its food needs in 2050.

With these food-poverty levels characterising the continent, it becomes unflattering to realise that Africa boasts the world’s largest parcel of unused arable land — 202 million hectares, according to the World Bank. It is also mind-boggling to note that 61 percent of Africans work in agriculture, but the sector only accounts for 25 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), leaving 47,5 percent of the continent’s population living on less than US$1,25 a day. Curiously, a great majority of this starving population is made up of young individuals, who could be productively used for a radical shift in farm-based productivity.

So, with these resources being readily available, what is stopping Africa from becoming an agriculture-led economic powerhouse?

One of the biggest challenges for the farmers in the continent has been poor access to quality farm inputs. For example, just 20 percent of Africa’s farmers can access improved varieties of seeds. Other threats to Africa’s agricultural productivity include poor storage systems, lack of transportation services, inadequate processing tools and weak marketing structures, all of which lead to significant wastage.

In Nigeria for instance, the demand for tomatoes is put at 2,2 million tonnes while local supply is 800 000 tonnes. However, the actual production is 1,5 million tonnes of which nearly half, a mind-numbing 700 000 tonnes, is lost post-harvest, leaving the country to spend US$1 billion every year on tomato paste imports.

Similarly, in Kenya, a significant amount of maize went to waste in 2017 because of poor storage, leading to aflatoxin and pest attacks. And in 2015, the Kenyan government destroyed 754 015 bags of maize worth US$20 million after it was declared unfit for consumption following an extended storage period that saw it stay in stores for seven years.

The two cases present a picture that is replicated in several countries across Africa. Clear cases of hard work with aborted returns. Higher sector returns are further undermined by inadequate market infrastructure, weak institutions and support services, and poor policies.

Back to Kenya, potatoes are the second most important food and cash crop after maize, being grown by approximately 800 000 smallholder farmers. The crop employs 2,7 million players across the channels and contributes over US$500 million to the Kenyan economy.

But potato farmers are some of the most oppressed and poorly rewarded as far as input-output ratio is concerned. A major thorn in their side is the nature of packaging. Traders prey on the desperation, ignorance and disorganisation of the farmers to force through extended bags weighing between 110 and 280kg for the price of a 50kg sack. This is despite Section 42 of the Agriculture Act 2013, stating that the unit of measure of all agricultural produce is 50kg.

Thankfully, for potato farmers, there is hope of a better future, with several organisations advocating for favourable policies and structures. The Alliance for Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), for instance, has collaborated with the Agriculture Council of Kenya (AGCK) to push for the enactment and implementation of the Irish Potato Act, 2018, which will guide the marketing of potatoes in the country.

The legislation will require potato farmers to be registered at the county level and collection centres established to open up the markets. The legislation also outlines the packaging and weighing standards of the produce.

Such policies will create order from the chaos in which middlemen thrive, as farmers who invest the most in the chain, wallow in poverty.

Similar efforts, if reproduced across the continent, will lead to the strengthening of agriculture as an economic resource that can pull Africa’s millions of poor out of poverty. But to achieve agricultural growth centred around the poor, governments across the continent are required to maintain a bold stance on policy reforms and formulation. Open dialogues between governments, farmers and traders must also take place with the conversations guiding design of public institutions, product grading and standards, plant protection regulations and market ethos.

It is only then that an agricultural transformation that will build social cohesion, drive beneficial continental trade, provide a platform for sustainable exports to the rest of the world, and, most importantly, help create millions of jobs while pulling subsistence farmers out of poverty, will happen.

Boaz Keizire is Head of Policy and Advocacy at Alliance for Green Revolution for Africa (AGRA) and 2017 Aspen New Voices Fellow.

As world leaders gather in New York for a key UN climate summit aimed at reversing runaway climate change, African countries are calling on their partners to declare a climate emergency after a series of cyclones and droughts.

 “This is a moment of truth,” says Agnes Kalibata, president of the Kenya based Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), as world leaders convened Monday in New York for a key climate summit.

The event, aimed at reinvigorating the faltering Paris agreement, comes after a week of student-led climate action, and although the dust may have settled, the momentum, has not waned.

“If nothing else happens, today, we all looked in each other’s eyes and agreed to do things differently,” Kalibata told RFI.

There were signs of progress made when 24 development banks pledged more than 1 trillion US dollars of climate finance to developing countries by 2025.

Climate finance has long been a sensitive topic towards implementing the Paris climate agreement, so this is “extremely good news,” acknowledged Kalibata.

“This funding will go towards helping countries prioritise climate funding in their agenda, which is what we’re looking for.”

Suffering in isolation

Her organisation, set up in response to a call from former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan for African farmers to wage a “uniquely African Green Revolution”, has fought to put smallholder farmers at the centre of policy decisions in over 11 African countries since 2006.

Kalibata on Monday urged the UN to do the same.

“Farmers need access to funds to help them deal with climate change. There is no need for them to suffer in isolation.”

At the frontline of global warming, producers in Africa are facing food insecurity after a series of droughts and cyclones. 

“The drought that is happening right now is making it difficult for known seeds that farmers have been using to work in the environments they’re in,” says Kalibata. “The land they’re using is becoming marginal instead of optimal.”

Kenya and neighbouring Somalia have been grappling with water scarcity after weak rainfall in late 2018.

Empty bread baskets

Traditionally, countries in “Eastern Africa are the bread baskets of the region, but today we have 27 million people who won’t have enough food because the rains didn’t come. If they continue not to come, we’ll have over 60 million people that are suffering,” said Kalibata.

Further south, two devastating cyclones killed over 600 people in Mozambique, while flooding wreaked havoc on the lives of more than 2 million, according to aid agency World Vision.

“It is a climate emergency for Africa,” commented Kalibata, as a group of African countries, led by Gabon, were pushing on Monday for the United Nations to declare a global emergency.

“What makes it even more difficult is that people don’t even know why this is happening,” she said.

The paradox is that farmers, who bear the brunt of climate change, may be indirectly contributing to the problem.

Fighting back

According to a report in August by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), emissions from land use, largely agriculture and land clearing, are responsible for 22 percent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions.

“We need to get these communities to understand what is going on so that they don’t contribute to a worsening of the situation, but that will come through building their resilience,” insists Kalibata.

While informing farmers is a first step, she insists that “equipping them” with the right tools, is far more important.

“We can produce more with less by helping farmers use high-yielding seeds,” she reckons, referring to an example of one female producer in Kenya’s highlands in Kiambu.

“This farmer planted her seed in a small plot; she got a good crop, and was then able to borrow money to buy a kilo of seeds, followed by an irrigation pump.

“She was willing to commit everything not to lose a season because that’s everything she has. So, farmers are not sitting around and waiting, they are actually contributing to their own adaptation and resilience,” she said.

The National Agricultural Seed Council (NASC) presented to stakeholders a five-year strategic plan document that it intends to use to revitalise the seed sub-sector in Nigeria.

According to NASC, the seed which is the foundation of agriculture has been a major challenge facing Nigeria’s agricultural sector, as fake and uncertified seeds are visible in the open market.

Phillip Ojo, NASC director-general, while addressing stakeholders at the review and validation workshop, said the document aims to strengthen the council’s capacity to fulfil its responsibilities in coordinating and regulating the Nigeria Seed Industry.

The director-general mentioned that the journey started about five months ago with the support of AGRA and USAID under the Partnership for Inclusive Agricultural Transformation in Africa (PIATA).

The council commissioned Sahel Consulting Agriculture & Nutrition Limited to develop a five-year institutional strategic plan aimed at providing the strategic direction for NASC.

Addressing the stakeholders at the workshop, Ojo said that the review and validation of the document is intended to ensure that the strategic plan is aligned with the green alternative, which gives Nigerian farmers hope and aspiration to take the seed sector to the next level.