Africa needs ‘green revolution’

IF Africa does not take decisive action now to produce enough food for its people and boost food security, African nations will not be truly independent, a renowned Kenyan agricultural scientists said yesterday.

Akinwumi Adesina, Vice President of the Nairobi-based Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), is calling for an African green revolution, which he wants to start now.He said many Africans are in need of food because the continent does not produce enough food for its people. ‘It’s time to invest in agriculture to boost food security. We must try something new, a uniquely African green revolution,’ Adesina told a two-day meeting on sustainable development in agriculture, which started in Windhoek yesterday.Adesina said while Africa has addressed many challenges and made enormous progress, many challenges still remain and the main one is the need to transform African smallholder agriculture from a trap to an opportunity for prosperity.’Our generation must rise to the challenge of ending hunger and poverty, once and for all,’ he said.Adesina said the global prices of major staple foods had quadrupled in the last few years before starting to decline recently, and none of this has benefited African farmers or consumers.The rise in prices, he said, drove more people into poverty and hunger and increased malnutrition. ‘Today, 300 million Africans face chronic hunger while net-food-importing countries suffered as prices rose. The high food prices more than doubled Africa’s import bill over US$15 billion in 2008,’ he said.He called on the African continent not be caught by surprise by the next food crisis. ‘Conventional thinking has it that the solution to hunger lies not in the ability to produce food but to have access to food. In Africa, the food crisis tested that theory and proved it wrong,’ Adesina argued.He said even when food-deficit developing countries wanted to buy food, there was none as some major exporters had placed bans on food exports, which worsened price volatility. African countries, he said, need to move away from reliance on food imports, to securing their food supplies through rapid, sustainable increase in food production. ‘No nation can be said to be truly independent and sovereign if it is unable to secure its own food supplies. Africa must start to view food security with the same priority given to national security. After all, no nation farms out its national defence to the market,’ Adesina added.He said African farmers should be financially assisted by governments and financial institutions to increase production and priority should be given to smallholder farmers, who form the majority of the farming population.’The Green Revolution in Africa must focus on the specific needs of women farmers, who make up 70 per cent of farmers and 80 per cent of food processors, yet they lack equitable access to finances, to education and land,’ Adesina said.absalom@namibian.com.na