Everyone knows that the most severe and intractable
poverty in the world is in sub-Saharan Africa - and that the
situation is getting worse.
Effective
strategies to solve such seemingly insoluble problems are hard to
coordinate and even more difficult to implement. But unless
constraints at global, national, local and household levels are
addressed, none of them will have a chance.
Self-sustaining growth
The World Bank has
acknowledged the link between agricultural growth and poverty
reduction. Indeed a one per cent increase in agricultural growth
leads to an increase in the incomes of the poorest by twice as much
as the same investment in the service sector. Yet international aid
for African agriculture fell by almost half in the last decade of
the twentieth century.
Clearly, rhetoric and reality are out
of sync.
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Boosting smallholder production is the kind
of investment we should be making
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Directing support to the rural
areas where three-quarters of poor Africans live and where it can
bring results makes sense. Boosting smallholder production would
kick-start self-sustaining growth across a range of agricultural and
non-agricultural activities and is the kind of investment we should
be making.
FARM-Africa, Harvest Help and the Centre for
Development and Poverty Reduction, Imperial College London have
published a joint report, Reaching the Poor: A Call to Action – Investment
in smallholder agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa, focusing on
the importance of smallholder agriculture as the key pathway out of
poverty for the millions of impoverished rural Africans.
The
alternatives are unviable. Mineral extraction and tourism could be
important but only in particular areas. “Safety-net” welfare
programmes for the poor would cost millions and fail to foster
investment and enterprise.
In recent years, much attention
has been paid to liberalising markets and creating macro-economic
stability in order to stimulate demand for agricultural products.
Such policies are necessary but not sufficient.
To enable
smallholders to respond to new demand means removing the constraints
that have caused smallholder agricultural growth in Africa to lag
behind other continents and behind population growth.
Farmer-led initiatives and frontline services
On
a global level, the UN advocates spending 0.7 per cent of national
income on development assistance. Currently the UK spends just 0.4
per cent. So governments need to up their contributions to the
agreed level and plough more money into African land.
Northern governments also need to cooperate with NGOs to
encourage farmer-led initiatives, working with African governments
to make the case for investment in smallholder agriculture and to
lobby for farmers to be involved in the policy-making process.
Land and water resources need to be available for farmers if
they are to respond to new market opportunities and improve Africa’s
irrigation potential. Where land is scarce, agricultural development
efforts need to target middling and better-off smallholder
households and to look for ways to assist the semi-landless through
the rural non-farm economy.
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Years of decline in government agricultural
frontline services must be reversed.
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Roads, communication, water
management and markets in Africa all need improving if the
agricultural sector is to grow and thrive. Years of decline in
government agricultural frontline services must be reversed.
Directing support to where it can bring results does not
mean that growth will be easy, which is why we are pressing for
action on several fronts.
Industrialised countries must
reform protectionist policies and accept that special treatment – in
trade negotiations, for example – should be given to agricultural
development in developing countries. Smallholder producers need
investment so that they can respond to opportunities created by
higher prices.
Reform of ministries of agriculture and
implementation of coherent rural development strategies are
preconditions for large additional investments in the agricultural
sector in most African countries.
Strategies must involve
all stakeholders, including the private sector. This will encourage
investment and give donors the opportunity to invest in African
agriculture without having to work through national ministries of
agriculture or other government agencies.
Seismic shift
in commitment
The problems to be overcome are many and
varied, ranging from poor soil to the impact of HIV/AIDS, from
inefficient agriculture ministries to weak farmers’ organisations,
patchy roads and telecommunications, low produce prices and limited
irrigation. (Four per cent of cropland in Africa is irrigated,
compared with 40 per cent in South Asia.)
If these and other
constraints fail to be addressed, the prospects for Africa’s poor
will remain bleak.
Next year, the UK hosts the G8 meeting
and is President of the European Union. This gives a very real
opportunity to make a seismic shift in our commitment to
international development. *
It is
high time that a commitment to agriculture was also renewed. This is
essential if we are to make a lasting difference to the lives of
some of the poorest people on this planet.
Dr Christie
Peacock is Chief Executive of FARM-Africa.
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