WINDHOEK – This year’s Africa Progress Report finds that if Africans want to accelerate Africa’s transformation, then they have to significantly boost their agriculture and fisheries, which together provide livelihoods for roughly two-thirds of all Africans. The world’s burgeoning population needs to be fed and Africa, our continent, is well positioned to do so. We have enough resources to feed not just ourselves but other regions too. We must seize this opportunity now, the report states.
According to the report, Africa’s productivity levels, already beginning to increase, could easily double within five years. Indeed, our smallholder farmers, most of them women, have repeatedly proven how innovative and resilient they can be.
The unacceptable reality is that too many African farmers still use methods handed from generation to generation, working their lands or grazing their animals much as their ancestors have done for millennia.
Africa may be showing impressive headline growth, but too many of its people remain stuck in poverty.
The report says if Africa wants to extend the recent economic successes of the continent to the vast majority of its inhabitants, then the people must end the neglect of their farming and fishing communities.
Beyond the valuable jobs and opportunities this will provide, it will generate a much-needed improvement to Africa’s food and nutrition security. More than anything, malnutrition on our continent is a failure of political leadership.
Africa’s farmers and fishers are equal to the challenge, but they need the opportunity. They need their governments to demonstrate more ambition on their behalf. African governments must now scale up the appropriate infrastructure and ensure that financial systems are accessible for all.
When farmers access finance – credit, savings, insurance – they can insure themselves against risks such as drought, and invest more effectively in better seeds, fertilizers and pest control. With access to decent roads and storage, farmers can get their harvests to market before they rot in the fields. Trade barriers and inadequate infrastructure are preventing our farmers from competing effectively. They are being told to box with their hands tied behind their backs.
Africa’s food import bill is worth US$35 billion (N$420 billion), excluding fish, every year.
Investing in infrastructure will certainly be expensive. But at least some of the costs of filling Africa’s massive infrastructure financing gap could be covered if the runaway plunder of Africa’s natural resources is brought to a stop. Across the continent, this plunder is prolonging poverty amidst plenty. It has to stop, now. Last year’s Africa Progress Report showed how illicit financial flows, often connected to tax evasion in the extractives industry, cost our continent more than it receives in either international aid or foreign investment.
This year’s report shows how Africa is also losing billions to illegal and shadowy practices in fishing and forestry. Africans are storing up problems for the future. While personal fortunes are consolidated by a corrupt few, the vast majority of Africa’s present and future generations are being deprived of the benefits of common resources that might otherwise deliver incomes, livelihoods and better nutrition. If these problems are not addressed, the inhabitants are sowing the seeds of a bitter harvest.
Foreign investors are increasingly choosing Africa as a lucrative opportunity, and pouring money into agribusiness. At best these investments bring jobs, finance and critical knowhow. At worst, they deprive African people of their land and water. African governments must regulate these investments and use them to Africa’s advantage. Agreements between African governments and business have to be mutually beneficial.
Unleashing Africa’s green and blue revolutions may seem like an uphill battle, but several countries have begun the journey. In these countries, farmers are planting new seeds, using fertilizer and finding buyers for their harvests. Impressive innovation and smart government policies are changing age-old farming ways.
Mobile technology allows farmers to leapfrog directly to high productivity. Young entrepreneurs mix agriculture with 21st century global markets. Africa’s resilience, creativity, and energy continue to impress. These qualities are critical to our green and blue revolutions, upon which Africa’s future will depend, the report concludes.