Dr Thulasizwe Mkhabela is an agricultural economist and is currently the group executive: Impact & Partnerships at the Agricultural Research Council. Picture: Supplied
ONE OF THE greatest challenges facing humanity is finding sustainable ways to feed the world’s rapidly increasing population. This challenge is also one of Africa’s greatest opportunities.
Across Africa, a more productive and environmentally sustainable agriculture system holds great promise for achieving food security around the world – as well as for the region’s development.
Global population growth, combined with dramatic dietary changes, will over the next several decades put great stress on agriculture and food systems worldwide. To meet the expected demand, governments and producers must work together to create environmentally sustainable, market-driven systems of agriculture and food production.
A number of African countries not only have great access to water, but also have some choice as to its source and cost. The irony is that Africa has abundant fresh water: large lakes, big rivers, vast wetlands and limited, but widespread, groundwater. Only 4 percent of the continent’s available fresh water is being used. Africa has about 9 percent of the world’s fresh water resources and 16 percent of the world’s population.
It is generally accepted that in order to feed the 9 billion people who will inhabit our planet by 2050, global food production will have to increase by 60 percent and on as little as 12 percent more arable land, much of which is likely to be marginal and/or environmentally sensitive.
Overall agricultural output to meet food, fuel, fibre and industrial needs will likely have to double from current production levels. And this needs to be accomplished while farmers confront the effects of climate change, which scientists predict will make production even more challenging in many places, coupled with the degradation of the natural resource base and growing competition for land and water.
Amid all this there is a great opportunity for improving the productivity of farmers and producers throughout Africa, and not simply for countries in the region to meet their own food and nutrition needs, but also to enable them to help satisfy growing food, fibre and fuel demands the world over.
Within Africa there also exists an enormous biodiversity, particularly in tropical areas, with the potential for producers on the continent to make contributions to global advancements in medicine, pharmaceutical and agricultural science.
Emerging practices that preserve, sustain and carefully manage the continent’s unique biodiversity and habitat must be directed towards delivering benefits to producers and communities who, collectively, act to preserve these resources for the future.
However, poor infrastructure in Africa often prevents farmers from getting their produce to market, and aggravates product spoilage and loss.
Accelerating agricultural growth requires investment in key public goods such as rural infrastructure, agricultural research and development and extension.
Policymakers must focus on these public sector investments to create an enabling environment that fosters private investment in agricultural productivity. For the same reason, development assistance in support of improved infrastructure can mobilise additional private sector resources for strengthening farmer skills and capabilities and improving their access to financing.
Smallholder and medium-sized farms are the largest investors in developing country agriculture and, therefore, must be central to any strategy for increasing investment in the sector.
In addition, they are important to addressing local and national food security issues, in terms of producing for local markets and in improving rural standards of living through the success of their farming operations. Small-scale family farms continue to produce most of the staple foods in the region, with countries such as South Africa being outliers.
In order for small and medium-sized farmers to become more profitable, they need better access to working capital, advanced technologies, and other ways of improving their production and becoming better linked to markets.
Public institutions and private sector enterprises must work together to make sure that smaller producers in particular have access to agricultural inputs and technologies such as improved seed, fertilisers and pesticides, as well as farm equipment and technical assistance, and, importantly, that credit and financial services are available to facilitate this access.
By the same token, it is important to recognise that raising small and medium-sized farmers’ productivity and increasing their return on investment will likely involve diversifying out of commodities in which they compete directly with large-scale producers. Accordingly, both public and private investment should focus on improving farmers’ capacity to add value, rather than simply expanding their production of crops traditionally sold through commodity markets.
Dr Thulasizwe Mkhabela is an agricultural economist and is currently the group executive: Impact & Partnerships at the Agricultural Research Council; mkhabelat@arc.agric.za.
*The views expressed here are not necessarily those of IOL or of title sites
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