Wednesday, 12 September 2012
The African Farm Radio
Tuesday, 11 September 2012
IITA
The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture
(IITA) is one of the world's leading research partners in finding
solutions for hunger, malnutrition, and poverty. Our award-winning
research for development (R4D) addresses the development needs of
tropical countries. We work with partners to enhance crop quality and
productivity, reduce producer and consumer risks, and generate wealth
from agriculture.We are a nonprofit organization founded in 1967, governed by a Board of Trustees, and supported by several countries.
Friday, 7 September 2012
Chinese motivating Agric investments in Africa
'China long-term motivation for investing in African farming could be to export food back to its home markets, a research paper from Standard Chartered bank
has warned. The world's largest country is more or less self-sufficient
in grains, but within 20-30 years it is expected to need to import an
extra 100m tonnes of food a year to meet the growing appetites of its
middle classes."Where China will turn to meet these agricultural needs is the key question," said the paper's authors, who have analysed China's involvement in African farming. "Concerns about global food security have raised questions over whether investments in African agriculture are for export. While we do not see investment as securing Chinese food security for now, this could be a longer-term motivation."
China's investment in African agriculture is still insignificant compared with the money it has ploughed into African oil, gas, mineral resources and infrastructure. Of an estimated $67bn of large-scale investments in Africa from 2006 to 2012, only $3.5bn was invested in agriculture according to the bank, which earns 90% of its profits from Africa, Asia and the Middle East.
But there are strong signals that China is getting more interested in African farming. It has pledged to provide, in the next few years, up to 3,000 experts for technical assistance and training, as well as training 2,000 African agricultural technicians and setting up 14 major agricultural technology centres.
Africa's population is expected to match or overtake China's by 2050, but the paper says China will soon need to develop deeper trade ties with key African countries to help feed its 1.3 billion population.
"China's current engagement in African agriculture is primarily aimed at addressing African food security," said the report. "[But] by investing in the region with the greatest agricultural potential, China could also be seeking to support its long-term food security."
China, along with Middle East countries and India, has been accused of "land grabbing" in Africa, but this may have been exaggerated, according to the paper. "Reports that China's ZTE Agribusiness Corporation is leasing 3m ha [hectares, 7.4m acres] to produce palm oil in the Democratic Republic of [the] Congo appear overstated," said the study. "In reality, this is likely to be closer to a total 100,000 ha. The leasing of land by Chinese companies across Africa is small compared with that of India and the Middle East."
Agricultural Transformation Agenda
LeadershipThe council, which is chaired by President Jonathan and coordinated by the minister for Agriculture and Rural Development, Akinwumi Adesina, will oversee the implementation of the agenda. Leading entrepreneur Aliko Dangote and former President Olusegun Obasanjo, owners of some of the largest agricultural enterprises in the country; Kanayo Nwanze, president of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD); and American economist and Columbia professor, Jeffrey Sachs, are also members of this council. The council is kicking off the project by identifying key stakeholders in the public and private sectors as well as the agricultural civil society and mapping out areas of collaboration with all key partners (especially young people) in order to maximise impact in the expansion of these value chains.
Goals
The primary objective of the ATA is value adding, a much needed development in the agricultural sector. The focus will be on the value chains of ten crops: cassava, rice, sorghum, cotton, cocoa, oil palm, tomato, onion, soya beans, and maize, as well as livestock and fisheries. While the 3.5 million jobs are projected to be generated in the first five value chains, many more are promised as programmes in the other chains kick off. Another objective, self-sufficiency, is to be achieved by curtailing the importation of home-grown crops like rice, wheat and sugar for which Nigeria spent a total of over N1 trillion in the year 2010 alone.
Cassava as the Flagship Crop
The ministry is particularly interested in curbing current importation habits in a bid to reach self-sufficiency. To this end, the ministry is on its way to turning cassava into a major export crop with an annual turnover of N40 billion in exports. According to Adesina, the cassava value chain is projected to generate 1.2 million jobs for Nigerians. The first step in this journey to make cassava a leading food and export crop is the proliferation of the cassava bread across stores and homes in the country. Plans are already underway to export 1 million tonnes of cassava chips from Nigeria to China. It is projected that with the substitution of 20 percent wheat flour with cassava flour in the making of cassava bread, and the decrease in the volume of imported wheat, N60 billion will injected into the economy.
What to Expect
This is an exciting period in the agricultural industry as we celebrate one year under the current minister, who has appeared very focused and in tune with the issues from day one. The cassava bread policy and the fertiliser voucher scheme, while drawing suspicion and even unveiled scepticism from many Nigerians, have ultimately convinced Nigerian that the minister is not sleeping. And now, the launch of this full-fledged agenda has won the hearts and minds of more people. As Nigerians become full of hope in this new project, its real success will depend on its ability to reach smallholder farmers and youths across the nation, adequately support and build the capacities of farmers and entrepreneurs, and use efficient and effective channels of distribution, monitoring and evaluation.: Harambee
Wednesday, 5 September 2012
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