Everybody is calling for something radical to be done to revitalise agriculture on the African continent. Some are calling for a revolution in farming, while others are for an agricultural renaissance and yet others for a decade dedicated to agriculture.
But political commitments have already been made by both African governments and their donor partners to boost agriculture growth to 6% per annum by allocating at least 10% of national budgets to farming.
In some countries, good policies already exist on the ”shelves” — with scientific discoveries and development of new technologies by African scientists and entrepreneurs. Good practices in countries such as Malawi and Burkina Faso illustrate that where political will is put into action, positive results emerge.
What is needed now is to stop the talking and move Africa from being a basket-case to being a breadÂbasket.
Smallholding farming can ease hunger and reduce poverty at a household level in Southern Africa. The adage ”If you want to achieve something you have never achieved before, you should do something that you have never done before” is what governments, the private sector, donors and the entire continent need to do.
We need, though, to consider a few issues in this implementation. First, we must emphasise listening to the grass roots and ensuring that they are liberated from poverty.
During the poverty hearings that African Monitor and its partners undertook last year, a young man from the Eastern Cape said: ”It would have been better if government could capacitate us, more especially with skills to engage in meaningful agricultural activities.
”If we could prioritise farming, have home gardens and at least grow food for ourselves …”
For most of the people present at this hearing, he summed up what needs to be done to ensure that Âhunger becomes history on the continent.
The other issue that arose from that young man’s point is the need to revamp the agricultural extension workers or abalimi in Africa.
This would ensure that communities have the capacity, skills and know-how to farm effectively as well as to ensure that they adapt to the changing needs of climate, soil and markets.
There is a need for a continental revival of agricultural extension workers who have since disappeared in most African countries. In countries where they still exist, there is need to improve and enhance their facilities to enable them to deliver beneficial services to the farmers.
Additionally, the recent spate of land acquisitions, which has been driven by the need for land for bio-fuels, needs to be looked at diligently. Policies must be adopted and implemented to ensure that these land acquisitions do not exacerbate an already desperate situation on a continent that has about 300-million people going to bed hungry each night.
Food-importing countries with land and water constraints, but which are rich in capital, such as the Gulf states (including Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates), Egypt and Libya and countries with large populations and food security concerns such as China and South Korea, are at the forefront of the search for new farmland in Africa.
While foreign investment can contribute to improved productivity, the way deals are being concluded does not guarantee improved income and food security for local people.
If small-scale farmers are not involved and their land rights are not respected in these transactions, the livelihoods of millions of people will be put at greater risk.
Africa also needs to start focusing on the continent’s natural breadbaskets in each distinct agro-ecological zone. This focus must be on smallholding farmers, who form the overwhelming majority of Africa’s farming population.
Farmers need to be capacitated to be on top of the situation when it comes to information.
There are various technologies developed by African scientists that can help us make progress as a continent. There is a need to revitalise, boost and support African centres of excellence so that policies are linked to research for the benefit of smallholding farmers.
There are innovative financing and distribution mechanisms — such as that being implemented by the Alliance for a Green Revolution in leveraging capital of African banks to fund quality seed and manufactured fertiliser — that can work wonders. The relationship between climate change and food security is also complex.
As many factors influence food security, this means that often the link is not made between failed crops and changing weather patterns. Changes in precipitation are not simply about increasing or decreasing rainfall. Rainy seasons that begin later or earlier than normal, or sudden rain spells hitting a region when it is supposed to be dry, cause crops to fail.
Climate change can also result in arable land being lost. Apart from directly damaging crops, extreme climate conditions damage infrastructure such as roads, hence preventing people from buying and selling food at the markets and subsequently undermining food security.
In recent reports, the statistics illustrating the effects of climate change are worrying.
In Northern Africa by 2100, from Morocco to Egypt losses in agricultural production might amount to between 0,4% and 1,3% of gross domestic product. In Southern Africa, more frequent El Niño conditions could disrupt rains, bringing a massive drop in maize production.
In East Africa rainfall is expected to increase, resulting in the loss of about 20% of plant and animal life in Lake Tanganyika, with a 30% decrease in fish yields.
This is why some of us worry when we read reports that some African governments are not willing to commit to United Nations targets of reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
We call on policy-makers not only to formulate the recommended policies put forth by the Southern African Trust, but to ensure that they are implemented, monitored and evaluated for the benefit of the people of Africa, who deserve nothing less than the capacity to grow their own food.
Archbishop Njongo Ndungane is the president and founder of African Monitor