1 / 32

Constraints and Opportunities for Agricultural Development in Sub-Saharan Africa

Constraints and Opportunities for Agricultural Development in Sub-Saharan Africa. Sam Goff Friday, May 4. Agenda. The role of agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) Challenges and opportunities for growth Success stories International community’s role in agricultural development

Jims
Download Presentation

Constraints and Opportunities for Agricultural Development in Sub-Saharan Africa

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Constraints and Opportunities for Agricultural Development in Sub-Saharan Africa Sam Goff Friday, May 4

  2. Agenda • The role of agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) • Challenges and opportunities for growth • Success stories • International community’s role in agricultural development • Agricultural development in the classroom

  3. I. The role of agriculture in Africa • The primary source of livelihood for 65% of Africans • 70-80% of all Africans- and 90% of the poor- work primarily in agriculture • 30-40% of Africa’s GDP; 60% of Africa’s export income • Over last 40 years, Africa’s share of world agricultural exports has fallen from 8 to 2%

  4. The importance of agriculture • Farm production largely determines the prices of basic foodstuffs • The poor spend 60-70% of income on food • 75% of Africa’s underweight children live on small farms

  5. Food security • Food security in Africa has worsened since 1970 • The percentage of malnourished has remained in the range of 33-35% since 1970 • But due to population growth, the absolute number has increased • 1970: 88 million; 2001: over 200 million food insecure persons

  6. Food security in comparison to other regions

  7. The centrality of agriculture for economic growth in Africa • Agricultural development must be centered on the small farmer • Improving the agricultural sector is key to solving the problems of hunger and poverty

  8. II. Challenges and Opportunities for Growth • Limited access to developed country markets • Poverty • Poor infrastructure • Limited irrigation • HIV/AIDS • Soil infertility • Low agricultural research investment • Lack of sound governance • Difficulties with market liberalization

  9. Limited access to developed country markets • US, Canada, Europe, and Japan: domestic subsidies, protective tariffs, and other trade barriers harm farmers in Africa and other poor developing countries • In developed economies, consumers favor the artificially cheaper products produced by developed countries • In developing countries, subsidized imported products also displace the locally produced products from developing countries

  10. Limited access to developed country markets • US Farm Bill subsidies equal $15-20 b per year, more than the value of Africa’s total annual agricultural exports • Without rich country subsidies and tariffs, the current $11 billion food-related exports annually from SSA could grow to $22 billion • Reform of developed-country agricultural protectionism may increase market opportunities for African smallholders • The Doha Round of trade liberalization is currently stalled

  11. Regional trade liberalization • Greater intra- and inter-regional trade liberalization is needed • By reducing trade barriers in agricultural and nonagricultural sectors, African countries can increase intra-regional agricultural trade by more than 50%

  12. Poverty and infrastructure • 80% of all Africans live on a daily income of less than $2; nearly half live on $1 or less a day • Infrastructure is one of the key inputs to agricultural development in Africa • Inadequate physical infrastructure increases costs by 15-25% • Much of poor trade performance is accounted for by poor physical infrastructure

  13. Limited irrigation • Only 1.15% of Africa’s 1.1 billion ha of agricultural area was irrigated in 2000 • 96% of cereal area relies on rainfall • Average irrigation cost in SSA is $46,000/ac; • Average irrigation cost in US is $50/ac. • High due to limited physical infrastructure

  14. HIV/AIDS in SSA • SSA: 2/3 of world’s infection but only 1/10 of the world’s population; 1/13 adults carry the virus • Great variation across regions • Several West African nations have prevalence rates <1% • In Southern Africa the virus has taken hold • More than 1/5 of adult pop. in Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, and Zimbabwe • In 2004, 1/3 of global deaths from AIDS took place in Southern Africa • Life expectancy in SSA in 1992: 57 yrs.; in 2003, 40 yrs.

  15. HIV/AIDS: Impacts on livelihoods • HIV/AIDS attacks primarily young adults; society’s most productive members • Households less able to produce or buy food • Coping strategies: borrowing and sales of assets • Family members stop work to care for those who are ill; children drop out of school • Intergenerational impacts

  16. HIV/AIDS and gender • Women are increasingly vulnerable • Globally, girls and women account for ½ • In SSA, ¾ of those living with HIV are females between ages of 15 and 24 • Women in SSA provide 70-80% of household food production • Food production can be reduced by 60% in HIV-infected households when women’s time and energy are diverted to care for family members infected by HIV

  17. Interventions for HIV/AIDS mitigation: Investments in Women • 9/10 HIV+ people do not know they are infected and lack comprehensive knowledge of HIV transmission • Education of women linked to lowering fertility rates, raising productivity, and improving environmental management • IFPRI study: Farms run by women have lower yields than those run by men; when women receive same levels of education, experience, and farm inputs as men, productivity is comparable • When mothers’ education levels raised to at least the completion of primary school, household poverty was reduced by 34%

  18. Soil Infertility • SSA soil quality is classified as degraded on 72% of arable land and 31% of pastureland • Causes • Nutrient mining, • Declining use and length of fallow periods, • Expansion of agricultural production on marginal lands • Limited adoption of • Inorganic or organic fertilizer, • Soil and water conservation measures

  19. Approaches to mitigate soil infertility • Organic farming • High external input sustainable agriculture • Low external input sustainable agriculture • Integrated soil fertility management • A pragmatic approach is needed

  20. Are fertilizer subsidies the answer? • May be appropriate to subsidize fertilizers in the short run in some countries • BUT must be supplemented by government investments in infrastructure, institutions, and policies that permanently reduce farm level prices

  21. Low agricultural research investment • From 1976-1996, public agricultural investment was 1/3 the rate of other developing countries as a whole • Private sector accounted for only 2% of total agricultural research spending (US: 50%) • Agricultural biotechnology (GMOs) holds high potential • In 2003, NEPAD adopted the Comprehensive Africa Agricultural Development Programme (CAADP) • At least 10% of national budgets toward agricultural development

  22. III. Success Stories: Southern Africa • South African supermarket chains are beginning to buy produce from African countries rather than importing it from overseas • South Africa: smallholders adopting Bt cotton • Zambia: from ‘95-’02, cotton production has increased 5x • Zambia and Malawi, smallholders have doubled cash returns from improved varieties of cassava • Mozambique: in last decade, agricultural growth has remained steady at 9-13% annually

  23. Success Stories: West Africa • Cross-breeding high-yielding Asian rice varieties with drought- and disease-resistant African varieties resulted in New Rice for Africa (NERICA) • West Africa could save $88 million in rice imports • Increased intraregional trade and diversification through ECOWAS • 75 nontraditional agricultural products exported

  24. Success Stories: East Africa • Ugandan gov’t initiatives under the Plan for the Modernization of Agriculture: distributing tea plantlets to households, cotton seeds to ginners, stocking lakes with fish • COMESA: Free-trade area • Kenya: In 2003, smallholders produced about $46 m of the $147 income from horticultural exports • Kenya: Smallholders produce 80% of country’s milk

  25. IV. International community’s role • Although overall international assistance to Africa has increased, assistance to African agriculture has fallen

  26. Sustaining International Support for Agricultural Development • Africa’s agricultural sector needs greater access to international markets • US’ AGOA: less than 10% are agricultural products

  27. V. Agricultural development in the classroom • The Green Revolution • http://www.fao.org/es/ess/faostat/foodsecurity/FSMap/flash_map.htm • Increase students’ awareness of global poverty • Miniature Earth: If the world’s population were reduced to 100 people, what would it look like? (http://www.miniature-earth.com/) • You prepare the next generation of scientists, educators, economists, and others who have the potential to change our world

  28. References • Resnick, D. (2004). Smallholder African Agriculture: Progress and Problems in Confronting Hunger and Poverty. Washington: International Food Policy Research Institute.*** • Rosegrant, M. (2005). Looking Ahead: Long-term Prospects for Africa’s Agricultural Development and Food Security. Washington: International Food Policy Research Institute.*** • Haggblade, S. (2004). Building on Successes in African Agriculture. Washington: International Food Policy Research Institute.*** • Gollehan, N. Irrigation Resources and Water Costs. http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/arei/eib16/eib16_2-1.pdf ***extensive verbatim reproduction

More Related