Africa’s human development cannot proceed until the first and most basic need—food—is met. A report by AusAID titled Improving food security in Africa reveals that over two-thirds of the population relies on agriculture for income and basic food needs. With food, fuel, and fertiliser crises that have followed the extended Russia-Ukraine crisis, the World Bank has described the current conditions in sub-Saharan Africa as “the perfect storm,” which includes the COVID-19 pandemic, skyrocketing inflation, a growing debt burden, and harsh weather.
The World Food Programme’s 2022 Global Report on Food Crises estimates that 140 million people across Africa are experiencing food insecurity on a regular basis.
With many countries facing food security issues, many nations have partnered with the World Bank to implement a series of short-, medium-, and long-term actions to combat the effects of food insecurity, such as overreliance on imports and persistent drought. These measures are also intended to soften the blow of the current crisis on the poorest households and put Africa’s food systems on a more resilient and productive path.
Agribusiness, the lifeblood of Africa’s economy
Subsidized farm inputs, enhanced markets, better storage, or some combination of these all have a significant impact on food security at the farm level.
A problem in Africa is that many nations are facing pre-existing currency instability. To fight this issue, various reform programs are being implemented. For instance in Zambia, the World Bank’s Zambia Agribusiness and Trade Project (ZATP), launched in 2016, has helped small farmers by expanding their access to markets through the consolidation of public and private stakeholders and the establishment of connections between agribusiness SMEs and buyers.
This is a positive development toward ensuring Zambians have access to nutritious food, as the country’s agricultural industry has been plagued by a lack of market access and firm-level liquidity constraints. By strengthening regulatory institutions to provide a welcoming business climate for agriculture and trade, and by connecting farmers in productive partnerships to increase investment in ways that boost productivity, liquidity limitations at the firm level have been alleviated.
Panuka Farms, a small horticulture business outside of Lusaka, Zambia, is just one example of a success story highlighted on the World Bank blog. By upgrading its cold storage and switching from open field farming to greenhouse cultivation, Panuka Farms was able to decrease food losses and increase food supply in the face of a warming climate.
Also, there’s Supreme Oil, a small and medium-sized agricultural enterprise (SME) that produces edible oil but hasn’t yet found a reliable market for it and has the resources to have it certified for sale in supermarkets. Their revenue increased by 40% in just eight months because to ZATP’s assistance in contracting and negotiating with chain retailers, NGOs, schools, and hospitals. Additionally, they assisted the company in obtaining export certification and in conforming to food standards mandated by the Zambia Bureau of Standards.
In a similar vein, the Agricultural Commercialization Project (AGCOM) in Malawi is assisting smallholders who are either currently engaged in commercial activity or in the process of doing so to locate new markets. AGCOM accomplishes this by constructing and bolstering farmer organisations, which in turn empowers small-holder farmers in Malawi to take advantage of market opportunities by sharing knowledge, cutting costs, and increasing profits.
If implemented elsewhere, similar programmes might boost food security while also providing new employment possibilities.
Combating Africa’s Climate Change
It has been well known now that the people least responsible for global warming are suffering the most from its consequences.
Particularly at risk to the unpredictable nature of weather are the agricultural economies of many African nations. The food security agenda must prioritise protecting these farmers and making their crops more resilient to climate change.
Farmers in Lesotho are being encouraged to adopt climate-smart agricultural practises like drilling boreholes to provide for drip irrigation as part of the Smallholder Agriculture Development Project (SADP) II. These methods are preferred to traditional ones like spraying water over a large area and relying solely on rain, which has become more erratic as a result of climate change. By limiting water loss, drip irrigation helps keep soil healthy.
These measures, together with the use of frost blankets and plastic tunnels to shield crops from hail, are essential for ensuring a successful harvest. These methods have helped farmers extend the growing season in the face of more frequent and severe hailstorms and cooler temperatures due to climate change.
Twenty percent of Kenya’s GDP comes from agriculture, and the Climate Smart Agriculture Project is helping smallholder farming and pastoral communities there boost their productivity and adapt to the dangers posed by climate change.
This is achieved through bolstering agrometeorological, market, climate, and advising services; expanding climate-smart agricultural practises; and increasing the use of climate-smart agricultural research and seed systems.
Building Agro-Data hubs
Another key component of sustainable food security is data sharing.
By enabling greater access to data on soil health, agronomy and fertiliser, smallholder farmers can be better equipped to innovate and improve their farming practices and, ultimately, increase their yields, livelihoods and local, regional and national food security.
It is one thing to have access to data, and another to get quality data. However, as more people access, use and share the data under an open licence, the quality is bound to improve. Improved data quality will help make services more efficient right across the agricultural value chain.
For instance, the Center for Agriculture and Bioscience Institute (CABI) joined forces with the Open Data Institute (ODI) to launch a Data Sharing Toolkit which could contribute to unlocking greater food security in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia through better access to information on soil health, agronomy and fertilisers.
CABI, whose mission is to improve people’s lives worldwide by providing information and applying expertise to solve problems in agriculture and the environment, developed the data sharing toolkit based upon FAIR principles – that is the data should be Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable. The Data Sharing Toolkit helps to increase the understanding of good data-sharing practices and the potential benefits, such as greater food security.
Madagascar and Ethiopia, two countries which are facing acute food insecurity and droughts would greatly benefit from historic drought data. By understanding the extent of the vulnerability to unpredictable shocks like droughts and flash floods, and the steps historically taken to remedy the situation would be instrumental towards tackling the underlying structural challenges of food insecurity.
Research in Food Security
A primary cause of food insecurity is the decline in global food production and productivity.
To stimulate agricultural productivity through partnerships in research and development, Australian initiated the African Enterprise Challenge Fund (AECF) – a competitive funding mechanism, hosted by the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), to stimulate private sector innovation and commercialisation of agricultural technologies to benefit small holder farmers.
Additionally, Australia established an Australian International Centre for Food Security to provide global access to Australia’s agricultural research and expertise in dry-land farming, tropical agriculture, commercialisation of agricultural research, and agricultural water and soil management in Africa.
Building better Infrastructures
Part of the access to market requires a need for infrastructure that allows farmers to bring their produce to market quickly, safely, and affordably. African roads have been known to be of poor condition.
For instance, Madagascar’s main road to the Alaotra Mangoro Region has stunted agricultural productivity and the region’s food production potential. Connectivity for Rural Livelihood Improvement Project completed a 40km section of the RN44, resulting in reduced travel time between Marovoay and Vohidiala from eight hours to three. Now farmers can easily reach Ambatondrazaka, the capital city of the region, where they can fetch up to three times the prices for their products.
In Zimbabwe, the Africa Enterprise Challenge Fund Zimbabwe Window (AECF ZW) founded by Australia funded financial services projects among them electronic banking services in rural areas. This has resulted in improved cash flow and access to disposable income for participating smallholder farmers through extended credit.
If such programs provide a glimmer of hope, perhaps Africa can achieve its intended goal, to be the breadbasket of the world in the coming decade.
