African leaders and farmers need to launch an agricultural
revolution to eradicate hunger and malnutrition on the continent within a
lifetime
Africa
is changing rapidly. However, too many people (including a large number
of farmers) will continue to be hungry and malnourished if more is not
invested in agriculture.
African
agriculture plays a prominent role in terms of economic growth, food
security and poverty alleviation, with 63% of the population living in
rural areas. In Sub-Saharan Africa, agriculture employs 62% of the
population (or around half a billion people) and generates 27% of gross
domestic product (GDP). Nevertheless, 226 million Africans are
chronically undernourished and 5 million die of hunger every year.
African agriculture is based on smallholder farming (less than 2
hectares): 80% of all farms are small and family-based.
Women
play a critical role in smallholder farming. They are mothers and
primary caretakers (in particular, providing nutrition to children) as
well as farmers. They do most of the weeding, harvesting and processing.
Although women make up 60-80% of smallholder farmers and produce 90% of
the food in Africa, only 15% possess land titles, only 10% can obtain
credit, and only 7% have access to extension services.
Small
family farms are a critical engine of food supply in the world.
However, in Africa they operate under great constraints with respect to
their asset bases and access to inputs, technology, services and
markets. Small food producers are a critical link connecting food
security, nutrition, sustainable agriculture, economic growth and
poverty eradication. Since a large proportion of these producers live in
poverty, agriculture-led growth has a critical poverty-reducing
impact.
Africa’s smallholder farmers urgently need to become more productive in order to:
- grow enough and more nutritious food,
- become reliable suppliers,
- increase their incomes,
- improve lives in rural areas,
- create jobs and new economic opportunities for youth,
- reduce gender inequalities by giving women access to productive resources.
Financial services, fertilizers and other inputs are essential to
achieve food and nutrition security by increasing yields and producing
bountiful harvests
To become more productive and profitable, farmers need access to farm inputs and services such as:
- financing to purchase inputs,
- quality seeds of improved varieties,
- soil nutrients/fertilizers,
- crop protection products,
- irrigation,
- crop insurance.
Half
the food we eat today is produced thanks to fertilizers. The impact of
fertilizers is immediate: within a single cropping season, farm
productivity can be doubled or tripled. For every 1 kg of nutrient
applied, farmers obtain 5-30 kg of additional product. No farm in the
world is too small to use fertilizers.
Without access to basic agriculture resources and training, harvests in Africa are failing and soils are becoming unproductive
Many small family farmers in Africa live in remote areas isolated from
quality seeds and crop nutrients (fertilizers, manure, compost). Yet 16
macro and micronutrients are essential to crops. Lack of fertilization
management has been detrimental to African soils; it is estimated that 8
million tonnes of nutrients are lost per year and that 95 million
hectares of land (75% of the continent) has been degraded to the point
of greatly reduced productivity.
Despite
the commitment by African Heads of State to sharply increase fertilizer
use, application rates are still too low. In the Abuja Declaration of
2006 a commitment was made to raise fertilizer use to 50 kg/ha by 2015.
However, the current average rate is still close to 10 kg per hectare
while the global average is over 100 kg per hectare. Because of high
transaction costs (especially transport costs), retail fertilizer prices
in Africa are significantly higher than in the rest of the world and
beyond the reach of the majority of small farmers. In this context,
closing the yield gap may seem to be impossible.
One Acre Fund in Rwanda: distribution network
The
star at the bottom left on the map shows where a farmer in Rwanda
formerly had to go (on foot or bicycle) to buy quality seeds and
fertilizer. The orange area indicates where One Acre Fund delivery sites
are now located. This demonstrates the type of vast improvements that
can be made in distribution.
Good policies can change the destiny of family farmers in Africa
We all have contributions to make to support Africa’s farmers. We call
on African leaders to work with the private sector, researchers and
civil society in these areas:
- Provide access to credit, finance and insurance by retailers and farmers.
- Facilitate imports and the distribution of diverse fertilizer products.
- Invest in infrastructure: transport, handling, storage, and blending facilities.
- Develop mobile technologies to provide information on markets, extension services and prices.
- Train extension workers to help farmers organize themselves.
- Disseminate best practices based on the integration of organic and mineral nutrients and balanced fertilization.
Family farmers can change the destiny of Africa’s agriculture
Farmers of all sizes want to improve their living conditions and make
their farms profitable. When farmers improve their harvests, they pull
whole communities out of poverty. Profitable smallholder African farming
can eradicate hunger and malnutrition by going beyond subsistence.
Africa’s smallholder farmers stand ready. They need our collective support!
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