Nepad and AGRA promise a food secure Africa

Nepad and Agra promise a food secure Africa

MICHEAL J. SSALI

Two development organisations in Africa have come up with a new partnership to promote smallholder farmers, increase food production and achieve food security in Africa. According to a recent press release from Abuja, Nigeria, (dated November 9) the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (Agra) and the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (Nepad) have formed a partnership that will link African governments’ commitments to agricultural development with concrete programmes in seeds, soil health, policy and markets.

“This partnership will enable African countries to close the gap between intention and action on behalf of smallholder farmers,” said Mr Kofi Annan, Chairman of Agra and former Secretary-General of the United Nations. “Nepad has mobilised public support among African governments to prioritise and invest in Agriculture. Agra develops and disseminates the technologies farmers need; bolsters policy reform; builds and involves the private sector. Our combined efforts will be a strong force for change across Africa.”

Based on the Memorandum of Understanding, the two organisations will join forces to work directly with national governments and partners across the agricultural value chain in a comprehensive effort to increase the productivity of smallholder farmers growing Africa’s staple food crops.

“An African strategy that increases the productivity of smallholder farmers is crucial to reaching our goal of six per cent annual agricultural growth,” said Dr Ibrahim Mayaki, Chief Executive Officer of Nepad, who signed the Memorandum with Agra. Nepad works closely with African governments to implement the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP), a framework to accelerate economic growth and boost food security through greater investments to allocate 10 per cent of their national budgets to agriculture, in order to achieve six per cent annual agricultural growth.

Agra works to achieve a food secure and prosperous Africa through the promotion of rapid, sustainable agricultural growth based on smallholder farmers. The organisation aims to ensure that smallholders have what they need to succeed: good seeds and healthy soils; access to markets, information, financing, storage and transport; and policies that provide them with comprehensive support.

Sub-Saharan leaders signed an agreement in Maputo in 2003 under CAADP to allocate at least 10 per cent of their national budgets to agriculture. But many countries in the region such as Uganda, have not lived up to the Maputo Declaration. Only 4.4 per cent of Uganda’s budget was allocated to agriculture this financial year, six years since the Maputo Declaration. Other countries, however, such as Malawi, Tanzania, Rwanda, Mali, Ethiopia, Ghana and Nigeria have moved to honour their CAADP commitments by providing at least 10 per cent of their budgetary allocations towards agriculture.

“It is no surprise that countries that have met their CAADP commitments are also showing signs of greater food security and stronger economic growth,” said Dr Akinwumi Adesina, Vice President of Policy and Partnerships at Agra. For example, government policies, including seed and fertiliser vouchers for poor farmers, have helped transform Malawi from a net importer of maize over the last four years and fueled national economic growth rate to seven per cent. In Rwanda food production grew by 15 per cent in 2007 and 16 per cent in 2008, as the country embarked on an ambitious green revolution programme that has increased farmers’ access to quality seed and fertilisers.

“Africa must lead its own development through home-grown policies that correspond to its priorities,” said Adesina. “This new partnership will build on successes and support new efforts in other breadbasket regions of Africa. Now is the time for our words to match up with our deeds.”

Since 2006, Agra’s work in 14 African countries has already benefited hundreds of thousands of smallholder farmers, who now have better access to improved seeds of staple crops, to fertilisers, to markets, to finance, and to improved soil and water management. In Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger, for example, 295,000 farmers are being trained in fertiliser micro-dozing, and efficient and sustainable ways to improve the soil and the yield of food staples such as sorghum. At the same time, Agra, efforts have led to the release of three high-yielding sorghum varieties in Mali and networks of village-based agro-dealers are reaching farmers throughout the area.

To evaluate such efforts and scale up an ever growing number of successes, Agra and Nepad announced that they will co-convene an African Green Revolution Forum in 2010. It will bring together all partners to assess progress and determine the investments needed to strengthen the value chain and support smallholder farmers.
“We welcome this partnership which will better co-ordinate and enhance development efforts in Africa,” said Gareth Thomas MP, the United Kingdom’s Minister of State for International Development. “This collaboration will make an important contribution to the achievement of Africa’s Green Revolution, food security and prosperity.”