Post on 19-May-2015
description
transcript
Amb. Prof. Monty P. Jones
Special Adviser to the President and Ambassador-at-
Large, Government of Sierra Leone
Overcoming Challenges and taking advantage of
Opportunities in African Agriculture
Outline
1. Africa’s rise, prospects and concerns
2. Challenges and Opportunities to African agriculture
3. How challenges can be overcome and opportunities taken advantage of
4. Role of EMRC
5. Key messages and conclusions
Africa’s Rise
Sustained economic growth over last
decade
Real GDP growth (%age) and prospects
Source: Africa’s Pulse, April 2013, World Bank
Sustained economic growth has increased..
• Prosperity ( middle class)
• Consumption and demand for
services
• Resources for public
investment in infrastructure &
other productive sectors
• Attractiveness of Africa as an
investment destination
Africa’s rise is not inclusive!
0
20
40
60
80
100
1981 1984 1987 1990 1993 1996 1999 2002 2005 2008
East Asia & Pacific
China
South Asia
LAC
MENA
SSA
Developing World
Poverty Rate (% of population below $2/day in 2005 PPP)
Source: World Bank, 2012
Challenges and Opportunities in a dynamic environment
Where we want to be Where
we are
Main Challenges w.r to Africa’s
growth trend
• Sustaining the growth over the long term
• Raising the growth rate
• Making the growth more inclusive and
environmentally sustainable
Natural Resource degradation
Nearly 80% of increase in cereals production in Africa is mainly through expansion of land under cultivation.
Such environmentally unsustainable practices are driven by lack of access to fertilizer
Contribution of yield increase & area expansion to increases cereals production 1980-2003
Climate change compounds the challenges
• Is projected to exacerbate the riskiness of Africa’s agricultural production and marketing environment
– Increased climatic variability more frequent occurence of droughts and floods. 95% of African agric. is rain-fed
– Progressive warming: Many African crops are sensitive to temperature changes because they are grown close to their limits of thermal tolerance
– Extreme events damage storage & transportation infrastructure
Emerging opportunities...1/2
1. Renewed interest in Agriculture – 2009 World Development Report; AU Summit on agriculture 2009; L’Aquila
G8 declaration 2009; UK-China Summit 2009
2. Emerging socio-economic and political context – Increased regional cooperation: African Union, NEPAD, RECs,
– CAADP implementation
– CGIAR Reform;
– Increased collaboration with emerging powers: China, India, Brazil and other partners in the South
– Liberalisation leading to increased private sector involvement (EMRC)
– Large Diaspora population (pool of skills, investment, advocacy)
Other emerging opportunities...2/2
3. Prevalence of local successes that can be scaled up.
4. Information revolution has improved access to market
information by farmers and to scientific information by
researchers
5. Expanding markets for high-value agricultural products
from Africa
6. Scientific tools (e.g. biotechnology) and promising
technologies that have not been widely disseminated.
Other emerging opportunities...2/2
Addressing the Challenges & taking
advantage of opportunities
• Identify underlying causes/issues
• Establish pathway to impact
• Formulate interventions
• Implement interventions
• Monitor and continuously refine
Overcoming challenges
Main Challenge: Low productivity (land & labour) due to:
Unfavourable external markets; inefficient intra-African markets
Limited capacity to generate the innovations required to increase productivity
High population growth cultivation in marginal areas land degradation
Poor infrastructure higher transactions costs lower competitiveness of products
Post harvest losses. They cancel out the modest gains in productivity.
Institutional weaknesses of service provision at all stages of production to consumption
Climate change (projected to have greatest impact in Africa)
Food security is …
• … National security:
Essential to sustain
development gains
• … Essential for
human capital
development
Without food…
– Medicines become ineffective or even
dangerous to the sick;
– Children cannot learn well in schools;
– The labour force cannot be productive
Bingu wa Mutharika, fmr President of Malawi
Agriculture: A driver for change
Food Security
Climate change
Environmental stewardship Non-food commodities e.g.
bioenergy, rubber, fibers, pharmaceuticals, flowers, etc
Nutrition & Health
The Agri-food Sector
Production (on-farm)
Food Non-Food
Production and Post-production support services
Agribusiness / Agro-industry
Farming
Agri-Food
Share of agribusiness in agriculture value-
chain
Global: Agribusiness accounts
for 78% of value added
in the value chain
Most of Africa: Agribusiness accounts
for 38%
Agro-Industry as a Driver of Africa’s
Structural Transformation
• Structural transformation: the pathway mapped
by African leaders to next development stage
• Shift from primary commodities to value-addition
(manufacturing and services)
• Agro-industry accounts for sizeable share of
manufacturing (1/3 to 2/3). A good foundation to
build upon
Enhancing Productivity & Competiveness
essential to development of Agri-food Sector
Competitiveness
1
2
4
3
5
1960 19801970 1990 20082000
Year
Sub-Saharan Africa
South Asia
South East Asia
Rest of the World
East Asia
Cereal Grain Average Yield by Region (mT/Ha)Cereal grain average Yield by Developing Region (t/ha)
7 Pillars of agribusiness development in
Africa
Enhancing agricultural productivity
Upgrading value chains
Promoting Innovative financing
Improving infrastructure
and energy
Exploiting local regional and international
demand
Strengthening innovation
capacity Stimulating private sector participation
Source: (UNIDO 2011)
Key Messages
1. Development of agribusiness / agro-industry is a key
lever to transformation of African economies and
subsequently to development
2. Pursue productivity alongside competitiveness
3. Achievement of Africa’s aspirations for ending
hunger and achieving sustainable development is
down to: long-term vision, political will & policy
environment, leadership and human capacity
Thank you for the
attention