How has agriculture trasformed Africa?

Agriculture is the most important sector of the African economy and will have to be its driving engine out of poverty. It accounts for 65% of the continent’s employment and 75% of its domestic trade.

As Birhane rightly said, Agri sector is still the single-biggest employer in the continent, but I see even greater potential to create employment by the sector through trade and industrialization.

1.) Trade - recently a number of countries in Africa ratified the AfCFTA which offers a bigger market for trade in Agricultural products. The more we are able to trade the higher the capacity of the sector to create even more employment, especially for the youth population that is growing at a faster pace in Africa than elsewhere in the world. Obviously there is a host of challenges that need to be overcome to unlock this greater potential in the sector such as standards harmonization, removal of NTBs, investment in infrastructure (transport, storage, etc) 

2.) Industrialization - A number of countries in SSA have industrial development as a priority in their National Development Strategies. I think the best place to start to industrialize is in Agro-processing and related activities. One example is in cooking oil, in Tanzania for example, Cooking oil is the 2nd largest user of forex (after fuels), and yet the country has vast land to produce the raw material for making cooking oil (soya beans, coconuts, sunflower, ground nuts, etc) which are currently being grown at a small scale. Textiles is another quick-win, since the country is already producing and exporting raw cotton 

@bredesirel

More than 60 percent of the population of sub-Saharan Africa is compromising smallholder farmers, and with an estimated GDP of 23 percent of Africa’s GDP emanating from agriculture

In the case of Malawi, the agriculture sector accounts for about 28% of our GDP, and is responsible for creating employment for 90% of our rural population which constitutes about 85% of the national population.

In the case of Madagascar, Agriculture sector accounts for more than 80% of GDP. Except for vanilla, cloves, cinnamon and other high value added products, most production is for the domestic market. And even if rice is in top 3 of agricultural products, the country still import this good. The presence of intermediate buyers evolving in informal sector is a big issue to be solved as it has incidence in price fluctuations.

until now, agriculture has not yet transformed Madagascar in the good way (if we talk about economic growth) and I think it is the same case for other developing countries in Africa. 

I think that finding solutions to improve production, in terms of quality and quantity for the small producers (the majority of producers in the country) is the best way to expand agriculture trade and to facilitate regional integration. The thing is that government focuses on calling for big investors to improve production and it is not appropriate to my point of view. It will not help improving resilience of local population and insure food security.

Agriculture has immensely transformed Africa in a number of ways and my contribution will be specifically on Zimbabwe. In Zimbabwe agriculture supports 70% of rural livelihood, and creates 25% of formal employment (though this figure can is now less owing to closure of industries in last 3 years), Agro-industry raw materials are 60%, export earnings from agriculture are 16% and lastly agriculture contributes 15% although in 2001 it used to be 22%.

However, supply side bottlenecks have affected the productivity and booming of agriculture produce to world market or even within Africa as a region. These challenges are:

1.Funding -undermine agricultural production as a result of liquidity constraints in the economy, inaccessible international lines of credit and inappropriate funding facilities.

2.Limited access to finance – limited investment in agriculture – inputs and infrastructure

3.Climate variability – Late start/early end of season, droughts, incessant rains, poor rainfall distribution, floods, pests and diseases

4.Poorly developed commodity markets – maize – farmers exploited by private buyers.

5.Poor production and market infrastructure – low yields, limited access to markets

6. Poor infrastructure - within Zimbabwe and linkages with SADC region and COMESA thereby reducing quantities being exported/ imported and produce reaching markets in good conditions.

7.High cost of inputs and enablers – water, electricity – limited winter production.

These bottlenecks has resulted in agriculture produce exported in raw form thereby fetching less export earnings.and members failing to trade amongst themselves due to poor infrastructure and trade barriers.

However, there has been a number of policies put in place by the Government to boost agriculture productivity and produce. This is:

Special Programme  on Maize Production, Livestock Stock and Wheat  Support for Import Substitution/ Command Programme.

The programme was put in place in 2017 however, mismanagement of funds has led to poor returns and non performing loans leading to almost collapse of the programme , negative publicity, lack of  food security as currently we have shortage of mealie meal and importing maize from Zambia, Malawi and Tanzania

Therefore, in order for agriculture to continue transforming Africa, these are the recommendations for Zimbabwe context:-

1.Secure and strengthen financing schemes that are friendly to farmers especially smallholder farmers.

2.Identify programmes that ensure sustained food and nutrition security.

3.Invest in water management and irrigation infrastructure to combat the threat of climate change.

4.Value addition and agro-processing of agricultural products.

5.Development of marketing infrastructure

Posted by: @admin

How has agriculture transformed Africa?

In the recently released 13^th Tanzania Economic Update, ‘Realizing the Potential of Agriculture for Inclusive Growth and Poverty Reduction,’ the authors underscore the importance of having supportive public policies and spending which crowds in more private investments needed to catalyze a nascent agriculture transformation. Signs of transformation within the study period (2008-2014) include a growing number of medium-scale farmers which has opened up opportunities for smallholder farmers through positive spillovers. These farms have created jobs for farmers through their demand for extra agricultural inputs and financial, traction rental, and, especially, transport services.

Agriculture is a key sector in transforming the African continent since 60% of the population depend on it for a living. Agriculture is an inclusive business which creates opportunities for those in rural areas as well as women and youth across the continent to reduce poverty, build wealth, fight hunger and achieve food security. Strategies to transform agriculture in line with the AfCFTA objectives will help to transform rural areas from economic misery today to zones of economic prosperity.

Majority of African countries trade in agricultural products to meet the increasing demand for food and changing consumption habits driven by demographic factors such as population growth  and urbanisation. SDG-2 aims to "End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture". In line with four pillars of food security ( accessibility, availability, stability and utilisation, individual countries in Africa are investing in infrastructure development, supply chain and market development to transform agriculture as a major source of income, jobs and a key sector to increase high- value products for export, increase GDP, reduce number of undernourished people, reduce current account deficits and to grow the industrial sector among others.

For instance, Uganda under National Development Plan (NDP111) 2020/2021-2024/2025 the Government prioritises Agro-Industrialisation as an opportunity to add value to agricultural raw materials in order to promote export expansion of high value products. This is further seen as an opportunity for import replacement, stabilise prices and increase household incomes. Additionally the backward and forward linkages between agriculture and agro-industries will necessitate Uganda to transform agro-value chains to ensure sufficient supply for domestic industries to undertake transformative sustainable manufacturing while creating employment for its young citizens.

In short Agriculture is a sector with high potential to transform Africa if individual countries invest dearly and jointly work to achieve the objectives of the African Continental Free Trade Area.