At the height of the Covid-19 induced lockdowns in 2020, Dr Apollos Nwafor was coordinating the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA)’s work with governments to keep food production going and markets for the same open on the continent.
But there was one hitch; most governments had omitted agriculture from their lists of essential services, meaning people in villages could not go to farms and food traders could not access markets.
“We wondered how that was possible when people had to eat, and for people to eat farmers had to go to the farm and produce the food and markets must function. We realised that there was a gap in implementation and inclusive leadership. We needed leaders who could think innovatively,” says Dr Nwafor, who is AGRA’s vice president for policy and state capability.
The post-Covid world and a persistent food shortage crisis related to the disruption of global supply chains, climate change, inflation and weakening currencies, have seen an emergence of voices calling for policies to transform Africa’s agriculture and food systems to enable it to feed itself.
Last month, over 200 agriculture leaders attending a forum organised by the Centre for African Leaders in Agriculture (CALA), an AGRA-led initiative, in Dar es Salaam challenged African countries to move from rhetoric to action, saying the solutions to some of the continent’s food systems problems cannot wait.
Dr Nwafor is concerned that many policies fail because some critical groups such as small and medium enterprises in agriculture (Agri-SMEs), the youth and women are being left behind in the implementation of programmes.
Agri-SMEs play an important role in the farming value chains, being responsible for much of the food production, sale of inputs, collection and distribution, and processing and retail of food products.
However, these enterprises often lack access to the financing they need to grow because they don’t have corresponding collateral, for example.
Banks also tend to view Agri-SMEs as risky borrowers.
With 840 million youth, Africa is expected to have the youngest population in the world by 2050.
The African Union (AU) has underscored the importance of the demographic dividend -- the potential for accelerated economic growth when the proportion of the population that is of working age exceeds that that doesn’t work -- in the development planning processes of member countries
But in agriculture, low participation of the youth has been a source of concern as most of them shun farming due to drudgery in most tasks and low incomes.
“The ‘leave no one behind’ mantra means that no one loses out on the programmes being implemented. Africa has a very youthful population, for example, with 73 percent of the people aged between 18-35. Despite the existence of the young population, nobody is harnessing their potential. We have been pushing for technology to drive food systems transformation and that would be driven by that demographic.
“In some communities the average age of the farmer is 60, meaning most people working in agriculture are fading away. If we have to transform food systems, we have to get the participation of young people. We have to look at young people as an opportunity, not a threat to political stability,” says Dr Nwafor.
Africa’s agricultural value chains are also faulted for shortchanging women, who constitute over 50 percent of smallholders and produce about 70 per cent of the food.
Women farmers receive meagre income for their produce, have difficulties owning land due to retrogressive cultures and customs in many communities, and have limited access to finance.
Dr Susan Kaaria, director of the African Women in Agricultural Research and Development (AWARD), reckons the marginalisation of women in agriculture goes higher up to the boardrooms and corner offices where key policies and decisions are made.
“About two-thirds of global institutions (including some African research organisations) have mostly men occupying most senior positions. There is a need for global leaders to put into place measures that address gender parity and gender gaps and operationalise policies with clear indicators of achievement,” said Dr Kaaria.
Women agricultural researchers, for example, constitute less than a quarter (24 percent) of researchers in sub-Saharan Africa and only 7.0 percent of these are in leadership positions.
Experts say the underrepresentation of women in research means that their unique perspectives on issues such as nutrition, funding and access to markets are often overlooked in policies and innovations.
“When you are not on the table, your concerns are not addressed. Leaders and all champions should work on tackling cultural barriers, and create a level playing field for all (including physically challenged people) to excel,” says Ms Ndidi Nwuneli, co-founder and executive chair of Sahel Consulting.
