Africans must feed Africa and the rest of HUMANITY

 INTRODUCTION

A First step toward rapid and sustained industrialization of the African continent lies in the transformation of the agricultural sector to ensure food security (Amongst Nations) and as a major foreign exchange earning.

However, it is important to note that despite the continent’s abundant human/ material resources and favorable agro-climatic conditions, the continent is yet to feed itself and only few commodities such as cocoa, rubber, oil palm, cotton, groundnut sesame, cashew are produced, and often exported as raw materials to serve as feed stock for industrialized nations, even at off-takers prices.

Low productivity, rudimentary farming, lack of processing equipment, poor extension service, inadequate and unreliable supplies of agro-input, huge product loses (poor storage facilities) inadequate credit facilities and absence of guaranteed minimum price, now acerbated by Global climate change-flooding, desertification and incidence of pests and diseases are the hallmarks of the scenario in Africa.

Gloomy as the above scenarios are, the continent still have the potentials and comparative productive advantages in food, cash crops/ fiber and livestock sectors.

The large swath of the Sahara Desert, Namibia desert notwithstanding, regions in the continent offer huge potentials for food security. For example, West Africa is noted for its cash-crop-cocoa, cotton, oil palm, maize, sorghum, millet, groundnut and rice. East Africa for its livestock, wheat, while Central and Southern Africa are noted for cereals crops, cotton, amongst others.

But huge infrastructural deficit – power, roads, and communications, water supply and irrigation facilities have contributed majorly to high production costs that constraint exports to industrialized nations that have very low production costs, and economies of scale in commercial agriculture ventures.

However, time of lamentation is over, Africa must adopt deliberate and systematic measures that are targeted towards areas where it has comparative advantage in production, processing (value addition) and marketing of its commodities in a modern and mechanized manner, away from small-scale, rudimentary/subsistence farming systems. It is not the size of cultivated land that matters, but how to ensure maximization of available resources to significantly increase yield per hectare (for crop), meat, milk output per cow and other livestock (including fisheries).

It is noteworthy that while various governments in the continent acknowledge the importance of agriculture as a major contributor (without oil) to GDP, the efforts are yet to translate significantly to ensure food security in the continent. In most cases, over dependence in exploitation of mineral and oil resources (mostly executed by foreign multi-national) as foreign exchange earner, to the detriment of Agro-industrial sectors has led at rapid decline in agricultural investments and output in the continent.

This concept note is not about lamentation of where Africa has found itself -a continent noted for extreme poverty, ill-maintained cum poor infrastructure, very low agricultural output, disease-ridden and under –employment, weak national linkage/interaction amongst nation, and poor trade investment at complimented level.

This concept note is about the way forward and concrete efforts to overcome the economic and political constraints in order to secure Africa’s agricultural (food and nutrition) base, and re-establish in commodity trade links with the industrialize countries, not by exportation of raw material, but processed and semi-finished commodities within African countries primarily, and to other nations as an options.

STRATEGIES AND ROAD MAP TOWARDS FOOD SELF-SUFFIENCY AND EXPORT BY AFRICAN COUNTRIES

Nature of the problem (CONSTRAINTS).

In broad terms African famers (crop/livestock) and livestock’s (public/private sectors) are faced with the following constraints

-          Low productivity in output (subsistence agriculture, fragmented farm holdings of less than one hectare, poor harvesting and storage system)

-          Ineffective land use /land management system leading to land degradation, erosion and soil nutrient mining due to prolonged cultivation methodologies

-          Low level of farm mechanized / tractorization for cultivation (tillage harvesting and on-farm processing activities)

-          Weak/poor crop livestock production system –poor linkage to agric-input supplies/ dealers,(fertilizers, weeds,/weeding, brood stock/ fingerlings etc)

-          Poor, non-existing access to credit facilities, risk mitigation (insurance),

-          High incidence of draught, desertification and other climate change effects.

-          Poor linkage to market (local/export)

-          Hinge infrastructural gap- road access (farms to market, communication)

-          Poor harvesting and storage methodologies and huge post-harvest hoses, often in the regain of 40-70%.

-          Poor farm technologies and extension linkages

-          Fragmented and small farm holdings and land tenure constraints.

2.2 STRATEGIES TO OVERCOME CONSTRAINTS IN AFRICAN AGRICULTURE

To move away from rhetoric about the “potential” of agriculture in Africa to meet the challenge and realities of current production and investment system, the following roles are proposed:

-          Regional grouping within the continent ECOWAS (West African) SADC (Southern Africa), EAEU(East Africa) and the countries in (North Africa), and Central Africa.

-          Nation States (countries with specific agricultural comparative advantage) (Role of government and national bodies.

-Private Sector Investment/Intervention

-Support by development partners, NGOs on product specific interventions across the continent.

2.4: Regional Economic Groupings:

Regional Economic blocks, as aforementioned were established to encourage integration in respect of trade and Socio-Economic investments among member states.

ECOWAS, for example, via their Agricultural and trade departments should encourage massive investment in Agriculture by leveraging support to develop infrastructure (roads, water supply via irrigation) and communication to link agriculture investors to market within the region and to African Groupings (blocks) across the continent. In specific terms, ECOWAS should support massive irrigation intervention along River Niger and to major tributaries. In addition, an ECOWAS Bank of Agriculture should be established to offer single digit concession loans to medium large scale agro-investors along the production systems, production, processing, storage and market. The same model could be used in other Regional blocks, targeting specific areas where the countries in the Regional have cooperatives.

Desert to Food Programme:

Under the ECOWAS treaty, member nations (front line states) within the fringes of the Sahara Desert have embarked in various shelter belts, agro-forestry and land reclamation programmes including fast tracking water supply in irrigation Schemes. The Israeli government has shown interest in turning the desert into a thriving greenery of agricultural landscape.  ECOWAS should take the lead and leverage the Israeli expertise in encouraging project sites along shelter belt for food, horticulture and cash crops, including animal husbandry in a large scale.

A plot of at least 10,000 ha could be established in each front line state to produce specific crop and livestock. 

 2.5. NATION STATES

Under the Africa charter, members are enjoined to devote at least 20% of their GDP to support agricultural enterprises/investment. In specific terms, massive, large-scale investment in the  agricultural sector in area of provision of infrastructure (roads, power, irrigation facilities) especially as in the Israeli kibbutz system (farm settlements) in areas of comparative advantage in food, fiber and cash crop Production.

Direct support and leverage to provision of mechanization equipment, harvesting and value addition as a deliberate policy to create agro- industrial hubs in locations in each country should he adopted. In Nigeria, for example, clusters of primary commodities – rice, cocoa, groundnut, oil palm, cereal and horticultural crops, of at lest 20,000 hectares each to serve as hubs along the value chain should be established. Ghana, Kenya, Ivory Coast, Mahgreb countries, and South Africa have adopted this model with huge success which can be replicated by other countries.

As a take off model, Nigeria can support the continent in the establishment of Rice, Cocoa, Oil Palm, rubber, cotton Livestock and other cereal crops in each of six geopolitical zones. This can then be replicated by the state and local governments as catalyst for rapid agro-industrial / intervention. Other related role(s) expected of national government to support agri-industrial hub(s) and livestock include:

-          Enforcing effective land use / land Management systems including land resources inventory, evaluation and recommendation that are crop and livestock speaking in the designated pilot areas (location).

-          Provision of a sustainable, cost-effective tractor hiring system.

-          Provision of single digit credit at concessionary rate, and favorable moratorium period

-          Provision of crop protection weeds, seedlings, brood stock crop protection agrichemicals and fertilizers at discounted rate to farmers in the designated hubs/clusters, and

-          Well- defined sustainable irrigation facilities

-          Guaranteed minimum price and risk protection against crop / livestock failures, draught, flooding and other disasters.

2.6. Private sector investment / intervention

Present small farm holdings and un-business like production levels cannot result in massive fool fibre cultivation. Large – scale, private – sector –led investment above 20,000ha investor, and highly mechanized system in term of production, harvesting is the way to go

For example rice can be grown in the flood plain and FADAMA (wetlands) across the country. Similar private sector investment using improved methodologies is required to revitalize the moribund cocoa, oil palm, rubber, cotton and groundnut producing area of the southwest (cocoa, oil palm), South/South (oil palm and rubber) Northwest (groundnut/cotton) and same in the north-east(cereal, sorghum, millet cotton horticulture crops and fisheries). The middle belt is noted first for yam, cassava, rice, cashew and horticultural crops.

A complete gamut of backward integration modernized mechanized harvesting and processing (value addition) and marketing are areas the private sector should invest in.

The small-scale farmers’ could be in the sector as out growers to support would be investors if there are guaranteed minimum price and risk protection against crop failures.     

     

3.0. Project Implementation /Execution

It is envisaged that the project will be established (piloted) in Nigeria and other African countries as focal points, and thereafter replicated amongst African countries based in the specific comparative advantage in respect of cash crop/ and livestock capabilities.

It is proposed that the following crop/ commodities be cultivated across agro-ecological/geo political agro – industrial hubs in Nigeria-----------VIZ

-          Cocoa and allied crops ---South-Western State (Ondo)

-          Rice                                   ---North West (Kebbi State)

-          Oil palm and allied crops ----South-East (Imo State)

-          Cotton                                  ---- North West /North East (Zanfara State)

-          Ground nut                         ----North-East (Gombe State)

-          Cereal/ Multicultural crop ----North Central (Niger maize)

                                                               Plateau (Horticultural crops)

For effective establishment of any or all these designated Agro- industrial hubs, there will be need to conduct appropriate resource cum-socio- economic evaluation of the specific project  as planned project implementation scheduling of five (5 years)

It is envisaged that each Agro-industrial hub will comprise of

a)      Cultivatable land of not less than 10,000 ha or (aggregate of out grower farmers to produce the crop)

b)      Land development and parceling, preferably for irrigated agriculture.

c)      Farm infrastructure and machinery / equipment, including harvesting, storage facilities

d)      A – medium – sized process mill/ equipment designed for thorough output of 100% of the raw material on a continuous bases

e)      Storage facilities trading and marketing outlet

f)       Relevant government agencies are expected to provide power, road water security within each hub.

Project Duration – five years (in Nigeria) with the possibility of replication in five regional hubs in Africa, namely (ECOWAS- Ivory coast cocoa), North Africa (Morocco) horticultural crops East Africa (Kenya) Livestock coffee, Southern Africa (South Africa (Wheat), Central Africa (Congo) forestry product.

Each county will be evaluated for best location(s) to site its Agro- Industrial hub based in its economic advantages.

OLABODE OLATUNJI OJUOLA, Bsc. Msc. Soil Science

Agricultural Economist and Investment Strategist