Agricultural Development in West Africa

For the past six weeks I have worked with Development Alternatives Incorporated (DAI). Our project, AFRICA LEAD, is basically consisted of providing leadership and capacity training to pivotal professionals in West Africa, with a goal to guarantee more food security in our five target countries.
(For more on the specifics of the project, see the post Report on Volunteering)

Researching institutions, attending meetings and reading economic reports has provided me with a comprehensive view of the current situation of agriculture and food insecurity across West Africa, as well as its main causes. Over the years, economic activities in Africa have followed a lead given by countries from the developed world. Nigeria, for example, focused most of its resources into the oil industry. Most countries trailed similar paths, focusing on industry without ever building a solid agriculutral base.

Food security is not only about providing basic survival conditions for the poor, but also to lift millions out of poverty (a targeted 40 million in West Africa by 2015). Many international efforts are being made to create agricultural-led economic growth in Africa, for most countries are importers of food. This is unecessary and due to lack of development of the primary sector, for most of the countries have the untapped potential to not only be food secure, but to also become net exporters. It is not a matter of just having what to eat, but to have nutritious food to ensure each individual's health.

Whereas in my home country of Brazil farming is mostly concentrated in extensive plantations, in Ghana over 90% of farming is small-scale, with families working on their own crops at almost a subsistence level. This not only makes it hard on the government to implement mechanization and irrigation systems, it also means the small farms are extremely poor. What happens is a farmer is forced to sell most of his family's production for income. In time, because the primary sector is not well developed and his productivity is too low, his production proves to be too small to either provide him with the necessary income or to feed his family. As a consequence, months after his own harvest, the farmer is forced to essentially buy back what he produced at higher prices, getting him and his family deeper into what the economist Jeffrey Sachs calls the "poverty trap".

In Ghana, production itself is not the main issue. Theoretically, there is enough food to feed the whole country. But because of incredibly low productivity rates, agricultural outputs grow because of extended farming land, rather than an added value on the crops. This in itself is still not enough to guarantee every individual remains free from hunger. Post-harvest losses are alarmingly high; a main cause for loss of money and food waste.

Nigeria, for example, has a critical problem with transportation, ranking in the bottom 20% of the world for transportation speed. This keeps food away from the poor areas that need it.

Around 90% of Senegal's economy operates in the informal sector, which constrains agricultural businesses from access to credit and investment. Also, they don't contribute with taxes to the government's efforts to develop the nation. Partly because of this the infrastructure in Senegal is so poor: only 15% of villages have access to a local market to buy and sell food.

A question imediately comes up from this serious scenario: what are governments doing? Actually, a lot (of planning). There are plenty of investment plans, international committments and signed compacts pledging to improve agriculture in Africa. The main issue when it comes to the public sector's actions, however, is lack of policy implementation.
As an example, input (fertilizers) subsidies in Nigeria benefit more rich farmers than the targetted poor. Because they have the means to reach the subsidized products, and there is no strict monitoring of these efforts, these larger-scale farmers then sell their surplusses at high prices to the poor farmers who were to be benefitted in the first place.

Being part of the efforts to create food security in West Africa, I have seen that the development scene is no straightforward business. There is no single cause, there is no single answer, and there are no guarantees. From lacking infrastructure and investment, to inconsistent governmental efforts, great part of the poverty in Africa can be solved through developing the primary sector.
The consequences of decades of badly planned growth (or lack thereof) are seen across economic, social and health sectors. What is reassuring, however, is that the world has indeed taken a conscious look at these issues, and much is being done to assure that the 21st century proves to be better for the "mother continent".

Scaling up for Food Security,

Henrique