Africa continues to grapple with the challenge of feeding its ever-growing hungry population.
“A hungry man is an angry man,” so goes a popular saying. Taking cognizance of this, Africa’s leaders, who will meet in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, from June 26 to 27, 2014 for the 23rd Summit of Heads of State and Government of the African Union, will discuss how to boost the continent’s agricultural production. With theme “Agriculture And Food Security in Africa,” leaders will proffer ways and means of reducing Africa’s overdependence on imported food stuff and the resultant loss in vital foreign exchange.
Stark Reality
Africa is the only region in the world where poverty and hunger are on the increase. According to current projections, Africa will be the only continent that will fail to meet the Millennium Development Goals, MDG, targets to reduce poverty, hunger and disease by 2015. The World Bank estimates that – at current trends - Sub-Saharan Africa will meet its MDG targets in 2147, more than a century after! The failure of African agriculture to meet growing demand is attributable to several human and natural factors.
Soil Nutrient Depletion
Africa is currently facing a ‘soil health crisis’ with as much as three-fourths of farmland considered to be severely degraded. The root of the problem lies in poor farming practices and erosion by water and wind, which have stripped many areas of essential nutrients, most notably nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium.
To reverse this deterioration, African farmers need fertilizer management recommendations that take into account the varied climates, soils, crops, and yield potentials throughout the continent. Up until this point, most of the research and recommendations have been done regionally, without consideration to the unique topographic and socio-economic elements found from village to village.
Declining Productivity
Over the years, the productivity of small farmers has declined as a result of lack of access to land and resources, the degradation of natural resources, poor access to markets, low investments in agricultural research, training and extension services, and the lack of private sector services to fill the vacuum left behind. Added to these are HIV/AIDS, which is reducing life expectancy and the productive capacity of farming households. In the past two decades, some 7 million farmers and agricultural workers have died of AIDS in the most affected countries.
Climate Change
Its impact on agricultural production and productivity has been most felt in the areas of irregular rains and planting seasons, floods and droughts. For the poorest people who rely on agriculture for their livelihoods, adapting to climate change is an unavoidable issue now and for the foreseeable future. Substantial resources are needed to help poor countries adapt to the impacts of climate change.
Migration
In some sub-Saharan African countries, more than 60 per cent of the population is under 25 years old. While young people are a huge potential resource, many are migrating to cities in search of opportunities, leaving behind an increasingly ageing population. It is vital and ultimately beneficial to turn this trend around. Reality will quickly dim the bright lights of the city for this generation. But if they stay on the farm, these upcoming smallholder farmers will be in the forefront of innovative, knowledge-intensive agriculture. Substantial and sustained investments focused on young farmers are therefore essential to harness their energies and ambitions.
Recurrent Conflicts
Food insecurity, like poverty, can be a cause as well as an effect of conflict. United Nations agencies estimate that armed conflicts cost Africa over 120 billion US Dollars (about FCFA 57,980 billion) in agricultural output during the last quarter of the 20th Century. Real or perceived inequities in access to land and water resources underlie many of the world’s conflicts. For example, a leading cause of the 1994 Rwandan Genocide was the government’s exploitation of scarce land and water resources that exacerbated ethnic tensions in the country.
Need For Green revolution
While the Green Revolution of the 1960s enabled Asian and Latin American countries to triple crop yields, food production in Sub-Saharan Africa has remained stagnant and in many cases, has even declined. Since two-thirds of Africans earn their livelihoods through food production, this poses a major obstacle in their ability to combat poverty and hunger. There is therefore need for another Green Revolution on the scale of Asia and Latin America.
