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