Tony O. Elumelu Correspondent
The global food security paradox is a very sad one. On the one hand there is more than enough food to feed the world’s seven billion inhabitants. There are surpluses in — mountains of grain; pyramids of meat; and rivers of milk in some world regions. On the other hand, too many beg and hope for their next meal.
The other sad paradox is that my continent, Africa, which holds 60 percent of the world’s uncultivated arable land, is home to the largest population of chronically hungry, malnourished and, in some years, starving people. And we are a net importer of food.
As the Chicago Council’s report states, by 2050, the world’s population will be nine billion and 66 percent of this population will live in cities. So, we need to plan now to feed the future population!
In Africa, the rate of migration from rural areas to the cities is happening at an even more rapid pace. This is an undesirable phenomenon, because farming there is a labour intensive endeavour. And when young people leave the rural areas, manpower is lost, along with the transfer of skill in crop cultivation and animal husbandry which will, cumulatively, have negative consequences on food supply and cost in a country.
To effectively tackle this problem, we first need to ask ourselves why this is happening. The answer is simple. People move in search of better opportunities elsewhere and jobs!
The high rate of urban migration in Africa, particularly among young people, is largely because the rural economy — which is predominantly agrarian — has been stagnant. Africa has a comparatively young population and needs to create millions of jobs a year for the over 10 million young men and women who will enter the workforce each year between now and 2030.
If that challenge is met, Africa can become the engine of global economic growth for years to come. If not, we risk mass unemployment, political and economic instability. In essence this demographic boom could easily spell doom.
While the high rate of rural urban migration in Africa has become a socio-economic, security and environmental concern, it is important to understand that these young people are not fleeing from farming as an occupation. They are fleeing from poverty!!
The two have become conflated because farming seems to have failed an entire generation. Too many young Africans have grown up watching their parents labour for a lifetime as subsistence farmers, only to remain desperately poor subsistence farmers! African farmers mostly subsist on one growing season and only realise one-fifth of what US farmers would harvest from the same hectare of land.
We need to turn-around this sector now! The good news is we can do this. I am an advocate of the philosophy of Africapitalism. Africapitalism asserts that the private sector must acknowledge and embrace its role in advancing development, particularly in Africa.
Africapitalism promotes long-term investments in strategic sectors which unlock both economic and social dividends.
Agriculture is arguably the most strategic sector on the continent because: it delivers 2-3 times the return on investment, in terms of improved economic well-being, as other sectors; it represents 32 percent of Africa’s GDP; and it employs 65 percent of the working population.
Most importantly, it is the sector where the poorest on the continent are most likely to be engaged in their struggle to survive. Unlike in Western societies, Africa’s farmers are among its poorest citizens.
What this tells us is that to succeed, any programme or initiative aimed at eradicating or alleviating poverty or stimulating job creation or facilitating gender empowerment, must tackle the agriculture sector.
Basically, I believe that if we transform the agriculture sector, we will transform the African continent! But we cannot achieve this transformation without addressing the critical nexus between strategic sectors of agriculture, transportation and power! Economic sectors do not operate in isolation! They are interdependent on each other.
In order to boost the agriculture sector, we need investments in roads to facilitate the transportation of produce and finished goods from rural areas to urban markets.
We also need investments in energy for processing and preservation, particularly to support the cold chains required to meet the new dietary demands of urban consumers. We need financing to underpin all of these infrastructural needs.
African governments do not have enough capital to deliver on these infrastructural needs alone. The private sector however, has and can access the capital, expertise and discipline to help meet these needs. — African Executive.