Writer: Kwabena Adu Koranteng
Food insecurity challenges are confronting many, if not all African countries today due to their inability to produce enough to feed their growing population.
Food shortages on the continent have contributed to the high cost of farm produce, and high inflation on agricultural products and these have contributed to economic and political instability and diseases and deaths.
Food shortages on the continent has been the result of the inability of countries and governments to produce enough to feed the growing population, the continent boasts of enough or adequate arable lands capable of producing the needed products to feed the growing population but poor agricultural practices and lack of technical know-how have stalled the expected growth.
The style of peasant farming and smallholder agricultural systems as well as the ancient practices of farming has been the cause of the crises on the continent. Today Africans rely on imported agricultural produce and products to feed their growing population due to the inability to invest and adopt information technology systems to transform farming systems and practices on the continent.
Modern agriculture is driven by continuous improvements in digital tools and data as well as collaborations among farmers and researchers across the public and private sectors.
Farmers can utilise scientific data and technology to improve crop yields and keep themselves up-to-date with cutting-edge methods of farming.
Countries that have developed successfully have shifted resources from agriculture to manufacturing. The Green Revolution benefited most regions of the world, particularly East Asia and the Pacific, where cereal yields quadrupled between 1960 and 1990.
But Africa missed out on this and the continued lack of progress in agricultural productivity has been blamed for holding back the region’s overall economic growth.
So what can be done to boost African agricultural productivity? According to some analysis by the African Development Bank in the World Economic Forum’s Africa Competitiveness Report African Countries must Develop high-yield crops. Increased research into plant breeding, which takes into account the unique soil types of Africa, is a major requirement.
A dollar invested in such research by the CGIAR consortium of agricultural research centres is estimated to yield six dollars in benefits.
Boost irrigation. With the growing effects of climate change on weather patterns, more irrigation will be needed. Average yields in irrigated farms are 90% higher than those of nearby rain-fed farms.
Increase the use of fertilizers-As soil fertility deteriorates, fertilizer use must increase. Governments need to ensure the right type of fertilizers are available at the right price, and at the right times. Fertilizer education lessens the environmental impact and an analysis of such training programs in East Africa found they boosted average incomes by 61%.
Improve market access, regulations, and governance
Improving rural infrastructure such as roads is crucial to raising productivity through reductions in shipping costs and the loss of perishable produce. Meanwhile, providing better incentives to farmers, including reductions in food subsidies, could raise agricultural output by nearly 5%.
Make better use of information technology
Information technology can support better crop, fertilizer, and pesticide selection. It also improves land and water management, provides access to weather information, and connects farmers to sources of credit.
Simply giving farmers information about crop prices in different markets has increased their bargaining power. Esoko, a provider of mobile crop information services, estimates they can boost incomes by 10-30%.
Reform land ownership with productivity and inclusiveness in mind
Africa has the highest area of arable uncultivated land in the world (202 million hectares) yet most farms occupy less than 2 hectares.
This results from poor land governance and ownership. Land reform has had mixed results on the African continent but changes that clearly define property rights, ensure the security of land tenure, and enable land to be used as collateral will be necessary if many African nations are to realise potential productivity gains.