Preamble
The 2017 Africa Agriculture Status Report of AGRA argues that the prospects for African agriculture look very favourable over the coming decades ahead. That national diets are shifting away from food staples like grains towards agricultural and livestock products, and processed and pre-cooked foods, all of which add value within the agri-food system.
It further reports that a great deal of value addition and employment are being created in the form of agricultural trade, farm servicing, agro-processing, urban retailing and food services. It projects that together, agribusiness and farmers with government support could create a trillion dollar food market by 2030. And yet, Africa’s import bill for raw and processed foods that can be produced at home could rise from $35B to $110B by 2025.
In the same vein, a recent Malabo Montpellier Panel report inform us that seven African countries have significantly reduced undernourishment – some by as high as 56%.
The High-Level Panel of Experts of the Committee on Food Security reported in September this year that many promising programmes and policies to reduce the multiple burden of malnutrition are currently been tested and scaled.
But it also reminds us that power struggles from transnational corporations hinder political action to improve food systems and diets including food and beverage marketing in unhealthy food environments and advertising foods high in fat, sugar and salt to children as wells as biased industry funding for research.
Ladies and gentlemen, I am however, not here to talk about the contents of a glass that is half-full or to give you statistics on the outlook on Africa’s agriculture, food and nutrition security nor how well we are doing to meet SDG1 and SDG2. I want to talk about why the glass is half empty and why now is the time for action.
A Quick Reminder
Fifty to sixty years ago, as African countries emerged into independent nations, not a single African country was a net importer of food. Africa exported commodities across the world: cocoa, coffee, rice, palm oil, groundnuts cotton, sisal, rubber, timber, tea… etc.
African countries provided materials and support to South Korea, and many, my own included, sent aid to Korea.
That was a time when Brazil, China, India and Vietnam were in crisis – a million Chinese died from famine, India was described as a hopeless case, Brazil was dependent on food aid and Vietnam was still at war. Today, Africa receives aid and assistance from the same countries. Today, instead of learning from countries that have made progress in their food systems, our leaders shamelessly troop to Western Capitals at every beckon to discuss Africa’s development as if our development lies in the hands of foreigners, in foreign lands!
They return home with commitments and promises … and another Summit Declaration. Colleagues, commitments and declarations have never fed people. What we need is action.
A Medley of Paradoxes and Lessons
There are many paradoxes in this situation.
Paradox #1 is that in contrast to the general belief that Africa is a poor continent, Africa is NOT poor and does not need development assistance. Africa, the second largest continent in the world is VERY rich.
Let me give you some statistics. Consider, SSA is well-endowed with:
- Minerals – gold trade (19%), diamond (54%), cobalt (62%), platinum group (74%), chromite (42%), manganese (30%), bauxite, uranium …
- Oil and gas – 15% of world stock in SSA
- Thousands of kilometres of waterways and shorelines, plenty of rainfall and sunlight
- Forests – dense tropical forests of which the largest in the Congo’s is the world’s second life supporter (or lung), along with the Amazon forest.
- And an abundance of arable land – a large part with plenty of sunshine, rivers and months of rainfall
- Energetic people with a vibrant youthfull population
Paradox #2: with all the talk about aid and development in Africa, total foreign investment outflows from Africa dwarf total ODA and FDI combined. When the former is combined with illicit financial outflows, the figure approaches a few USD Trillions. So, where is all the money going to?
Lesson #1: Africa is not poor. Africa’s development problems will be solved when Africa learns how to manage its own resources. No amount of foreign development assistance will solve Africa’s problems.
The Cycle of Poverty, Hunger and Malnutrition is man-made.
What have the foregoing got to do with Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Security in Africa? I say, EVERYTHING! With the preceding statistics on Africa’s wealth, why is Africa unable to feed itself? Why is Africa importing close to USD40B worth of food annually, projected to over $100B by 2025, to feed its population? Why is it that a vast majority of the 800 million chronically undernourished people in the World live in Africa and SSA is home to 52% of all children living in poverty and 45% of child mortality in Africa is attributable to malnutrition?
In Africa, poverty, hunger and malnutrition, both stunting and obesity, co-exist in many of the same communities and families. Rapid urbanisation, a fast-growing middle class, change in diets and work habits on the one hand and neglect of and or absence of basic infrastructure in rural areas now contribute to the continent showing the highest rates of hidden hunger compared to LAC and Asian countries. While some of the fastest growing economies measured by GDP growth are in SSA, this has not translated into shared economic prosperity or equitable social development.
Malnutrition generally is considered as a poverty indicator. Malnutrition leads to sub optimal intellectual development. Malnourished children who are the future of any society, are prone to be poor and less productive. Malnourished women usually have malnourished babies with low birth weights and who usually grow into physically and mentally stunted children. Stunted adults imply low human capital, low incomes and poverty (Malabo Montpellier Panel, 2017). And the cycle repeats itself.
Agriculture is Key to Africa’s Development.
An African transformation resides, first and foremost on the continent and its leaders being able to feed itself. Investing in Africa’s agricultural transformation makes both economic, business and moral sense. The majority of Africa’s 1.2 million people live in rural areas and more than 330 million of them who live in extreme poverty live in rural areas and depend on agriculture for their livelihoods. The main attributes of Africa’s agricultural landscape are smallholder producers and great potential.
But potential alone has not, and will never feed hungry people!
It follows therefore that any attempt to address SDG1 and SDG2 must start with the rural sector where poverty and hunger run deepest and where the associated consequences of these, malnutrition, stunting and wasting are most prevalent.
Lesson #2: A broad-based and inclusive rural transformation centered on agriculture is a pre-requisite to achieving human dignity and zero hunger because Africa’s poor and hungry live mostly in rural areas, not in bloated urban slums.
Africa could easily double its productivity in the next five years simply by better use of its existing farmland. And there is even more potential when you consider that half of the world's uncultivated land suitable for growing food crops is in Africa covering over 200 million hectares.
Doubling productivity aside and ignoring the vast amount of uncultivated arable land, there is another paradox: We produce enough food in the world to feed every child, every woman and every man on our planet.
Globally, 1.3 billion tons of food are wasted or lost annually, enough to feed the world’s hungry. In 2015, in SSA alone, grain loss was up to $40 billion, enough to feed 48 million people but we spend close to $40B annually on food imports – creating jobs outside the continent, enriching pockets of others for a continent with its youth population making up to 60% of its unemployed workforce.
Agriculture could generate untold prosperity for the continent by lifting millions out of poverty, and creating jobs and new industries along the length of the agricultural value chain.
No nation in the world has developed without leveraging the potential of the agricultural sector and without going through an agricultural transformation that generates inclusive social and economic growth. Agricultural transformation does not happen in isolation. It must be part of rural transformation which in itself is part of a broader process of structural transformation that is shaped by the interlinkages between agriculture, the rural non-farm economy, manufacturing and services.
Yet agriculture remains neglected in Africa – treated as a poor man’s occupation and not as a business, with little or no investment by government.
Investing in Rural People and Smallholder Producers
Consider that 60-80% of all Africans live in rural areas; that their primary source of livelihood is agriculture, smallholder agriculture. Consider that these rural populations produce up to 80% of the food that we consume in SSA. And yet 70% of Africa’s poor are in rural areas. Where then should we begin with sustainable development, zero hunger, food and nutrition security?
What is the incentive for a rural smallholder to increase her production when she has no access to markets; no motorable roads especially when it rains, no electricity for decent storage of produce. And in the first instance, does she have access to agricultural financing? Is there a price guarantee scheme when there is a bumper harvest or is there a price crash? And what if the rains fail, does she have crop insurance?
Who is to blame when her maize or sorghum or cassava farm is not part of the 6% of cultivated irrigated agricultural land in Africa compared to her Asian and Latin American counterparts where 46% and 60% of their farms are irrigated; or if she is not one of those who apply an average of 18kg/hectare of fertilizer to her crop as against her Asian and Latin America counterparts who apply 140kg and 190kg respectively? Does she have an incentive to grow HYVs and hybrids?
Remove these constraints and watch her and her community of farmers come together and aggregate and thrive. It is happening in tea in Rwanda; horticulture in Ethiopia and Kenya; aquaculture in Nigeria and Eritrea; in bee-keeping in many African countries. It needs to happen more and on staple food crops: rice, maize, cassava, yams, beans etc. What does this tell us about Africa’s agricultural landscape?
Lesson #3: Poor rural people are not waiting for handouts, for charity neither from governments nor from NGOs. They are in search of economic opportunities to actively participate in domestic and international agricultural economies and markets; to make profit, earn money to send their children to school, build a new house; install a solar panel on their roof so their children can study at night and they can watch the news and football; and why not to charge their smartphones and connect with the rest of the world? Just what you and I take for granted!!
Africa’s leaders have failed to recognise that farming, irrespective of scale, is a business, a profit-making enterprise. And smallholder farmers, whether in crops, livestock or fisheries are part of the business community, they are small rural entrepreneurs! A recent World bank paper (2016) described smallholder producers as the largest private sector group in African agriculture. They invest more than governments, recognised private sector and development partners combined.
What did Brazil and China do that Africa has not done? They had leadership that made agriculture a priority.
They invested in rural areas; they invested in rural infrastructure, in health and education. And they introduced policies that supported the growth of agricultural economies. They galvanised and rode on the power of aggregation and group action in community development.
Africa needs policies that encourage inclusive business models. Policies that facilitate the ability of poor farmers to access finance and technology and that protect their rights to water and land.
The Call for Action: Leadership and Good Governance
Ladies and gentlemen,
Africa’s biggest challenge to achieving a food secure future is first and foremost ownership and political will, coupled with determined, visionary leadership committed to building institutions and implementing the right polices and creating an enabling environment for the business of farming to grow and thrive.
Lesson #4: Without good governance, efforts in development will always remain crippled. Poor governance generates weak institutions, inconsistent and poorly informed policies, and dysfunctional governments. Wipe out corruption, instil law and order and growth begins to translate into inclusive and broad-based economic, social and environmental dividends.
And change must begin at home, from inside Africa; the investment must be made by us, Africans, not the plethora of individual donor-financed projects. Development itself is an intrinsic process. No nation developed itself from outside, but by managing its own resources – natural, financial and human.
Let me digress a little before I get to Lesson #5.
EBOLA Crisis: What did it take to awaken the privileged world? Not the thousands of dead and forgotten West Africans – but the threat of the disease crossing the desert and the seas into the privileged world.
MALNUTRITION: Thousands of stunted and wasted children; 25% of all children below five; 8,000 children dead from preventable causes related to undernutrition go unnoticed; result in a loss of billions of dollars.
But the cost of inaction dwarfs the cost of a well-articulated and executed long-term investment plan in one’s own development.
If we still believe that none of these: hunger and poverty, disease, and loss of productivity are unconnected with the mass migration due to indignity, absence of economic opportunities, desperation and hopelessness of Africa’s young population, ask yourself why the privileged world is now so agitated?
Lesson #5: Development is not something we do for or to others. Development is something people do for themselves; rooted in their own soil. Our role is to support, help and assist, not to lead! Our failure to do so could cost our world a lot more.
And the place to begin is with our young people. Africa is the youngest continent with over 50% of its population below age 25. Annually, over 10 million young people enter the job market competing for less than 200,000 jobs. Jobs and opportunity make the top of the development agenda in virtually every country on the continent. Yet agriculture is the largest employer – up to 60-70% in many countries and the average age of farmers is put at 60 years. Who do you think will be farming our lands in 2030? In 2050? Our young men and women of today.
Our youth need to see the largely untapped reservoir of opportunities in farming beyond the hoe – a reservoir that not only feeds people, creates wealth and employs people along the whole value chain both on farm and off-farm. It is not how to make farming attractive but how to attract young people into the food system. A good example is IITA’s Young Agripreneur (IYA) programme.
The highly vocal thousands of urban youth are a small number compared to the millions of job-seeking rural and semi-urban young women and men who will migrate into urban areas and in no time constitute the thousands who daily attempt to cross the Sahara or the Mediterranean sea in desperation, frustration and hopelessness.
Lesson #6: If we do not resolve the increasingly volatile youth unemployment challenges, our rich demographic dividend will in no time become a demographic disaster.
A Place for Biodiversity and Diversification
We can not meet the food and nutrition needs of the developing world, of Africa, using a model that only works for the developed world. All farms have an impact on the environment. To feed from the bounty of the land, we must nurture the earth. Smallholders can be custodians of the land, soil and water.
It is not enormous factory estates that will feed the world in a healthy and sustainable fashion; it is food systems that are in tune with nature, that go beyond commercial considerations and are in harmony with the terrain and the social fabric of society. This needs to apply to all farms, whether small, medium or large.
We must also diversify our crops and our diets. Wheat, rice, and maize alone provide about half the calories consumed globally. Yet there are 7,000 species of plants and several hundred species of animals that have been used for human food. There is room to expand consumption of traditional staples from the developing world such as plantains, sorghum, millets, Fonio, Amaranthus, Quinoa and Teff and a range of traditional legumes and vegetables.
Consider that today, the average western supermarket stocks just two or three types of potato. Compare this to another part of the developing world, Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru, where small farms grow more than 4,000 varieties! Many similar examples exist in Africa. If we ignore our heritage, we do so at our own peril. What better insurance do we have against the fast unfolding consequences of climate change?
More on Nutrition
Food is not just about filling bellies; it is about nutrition and balanced diets.
If African countries are serious about meeting the Malabo Declaration targets of reducing the prevalence of stunting, wasting, and underweight, more specifically, reducing malnutrition - under-nourishment, micronutrient deficiencies, and overweight and obesity, then governments and other stakeholders including the private sector, would need to harness the potential of the agriculture sector and other rural services, including education, health and sanitation, and reach beyond just increasing the levels of agricultural production to make actual improvements in the quality and diversity of diets.
The simplest of campaigns should start with rural households: “You are what you eat” and “what you grow is what you eat”
Lesson #7: Nutrition security does not begin with nutrient supplements and fortified foods. It begins with growing nutritious crops, with diversified and productive agriculture; with education and training of the people who suffer the most from the lack of it – rural populations.
Of course, there is no one-size-fits-all solution to successfully reducing malnutrition levels across Africa. Interventions and solutions have to be adapted to local contexts.
Let me share with you four things that I learnt about nutrition during my tenure at IFAD.
First, improving nutrition also means understanding and supporting the role of women. Women make up a large percentage of the workforce in agriculture and food systems in Africa. Along with specific traditional gender roles, women’s education, social status, health and nutritional status, and control over resources are key factors that influence outcomes on nutrition and, they are more likely than men to spend money earned on nutritious and more varied food for the family.
Second, higher incomes do not necessarily translate into better nutrition outcomes. Education and information are also essential particularly for smallholders and rural communities.
Third, value addition involving better food storage, processing, preparation and preservation need to improve as we change our mindset and see agriculture as a major driver of our food systems involving primary producers and the private sector, large or small SMEs as partners in the whole value chain.
And finally, fourth, governments need to invest in building strong and viable institutions across a range of sectors that cover the full spectrum of national development, inclusive of rural infrastructure, health, water and sanitation, and education of rural populations. Strong national agricultural and nutrition research institutions and policy platforms are as important as investing in the breeding and release of improved, nutrient-rich crops.
CONCLUSION: To make it brief, I will recapitulate the seven lessons that I have already shared with you. They are by no means an exhaustive list of lessons nor are they a to-do list on how Africa must transfer its agricultural landscape and address the various dimensions of malnutrition. So, I look forward to our panel and the presentations and discussions that follow to enrich what I have shared with you this morning.
Lesson #1: Africa is not poor. Africa’s development problems will be solved when Africa learns how to manage its own resources. No amount of foreign development assistance will solve Africa’s problems.
Lesson #2: A broad-based and inclusive rural transformation is a pre-requisite to achieving human dignity and zero hunger because Africa’s poor and hungry live mostly in rural areas, not in bloated urban slums
Lesson #3: Poor rural people are not waiting for handouts, for charity neither from governments nor from NGOs. They are seeking economic opportunities to actively participate in domestic and international agricultural economies and markets; to make profit, earn money to send their children to school, build a new house; install a solar panel on their roof so their children can study at night and they can watch the news and football; and why not to charge their smartphones and connect to the rest of the world? Just what you and I take for granted!!
Lesson #4: Without good governance, efforts in development will always remain crippled. Poor governance generates weak institutions, inconsistent and poorly informed policies, and dysfunctional governments. Wipe out corruption, instil law and order and growth begins to translate into inclusive and broad-based economic, social and environmental dividends.
Lesson #5: Development is not something we do for or to others. Development is something people do for themselves; rooted in their own soil. Our role is to support, help and assist, not to lead! Our failure to do so could cost our world a lot more.
Lesson #6: If we do not resolve the increasingly volatile youth unemployment challenges, our rich demographic dividend will in no time become a demographic disaster.
Lesson #7: Nutrition security does not begin with nutrient supplements and fortified foods. It begins with growing nutritious crops, with diversified and productive agriculture; with education and training of the people who suffer the most from the lack of it – rural populations.
I thank you all!!