Leonard Ncube in Victoria Falls
AFRICA’S agriculture industry has the potential to supply the world if governments take serious agrarian programmes and capacitate small scale producers, a top United Nations (UN) official said.
Zimbabwe’s representative to the United Nations, Mr Frederick Shava, who is also President of the UN Economic and Social Council, challenged African governments to seriously consider capacitating the sector and facilitate value addition and beneficiation.
“Because all nations come from economies that are 70 percent agro-based, we have to discuss agro based industries to address agro industrialisation of the economies,” he said.
Mr Shava was in the country where he joined experts in agri-business and agro industry who attended a Global Expert Meeting on Agriculture and Agro-Industries Development in Victoria Falls last week. The gathering was focused on identifying measures to create sustainable and resilient food systems through innovation and capacitating the agro-industry on the continent.
Mr Shava said the agricultural sector was crucial in the attainment of global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as well as poverty eradication in respective countries.
Meanwhile, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Macro-Economic Planning and Investment Promotion, Dr Desire Sibanda, said now was the time for Africa to start exporting processed agro products.
“Agribusiness and agro industries are key to the attainment of SDGs hence we need to come up with right policies and incentives as well as investment for growth of domestic enterprises and improvements in the overall investment climate to achieve these goals,” he said.
Food and Agriculture Organisation director Ms Carla Mucavi said: “Agribusiness and agro industry development was critically important in ensuring the development of sustainable and resilient food systems needed to deliver healthy diets to all and poverty eradication in developing countries”.
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