Why African Countries Need to Increase Budget on Agriculture

Why African Countries Need to Increase Budget on Agriculture

By Success Kanayo Uchime

Stakeholders have stressed the need for African governments to increase their budget on agricultural sectors as that will effectively help to fight the crippling poverty that has gripped the continent for a very long time and also to ensure adequate food sufficiency.

Speaking in at Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Program (CAADP), open forum in Nairobi, the Vice-President, Pan African Parliament (PAP), Mary Mugyeyi stressed the urgent need for African governments to increase budgetary allocation to the agriculture sector by 10 per cent, as agreed at the African Union Summit held in Maputo in 2004.

Mugyenyi urged the CAADP to include the Pan African Parliament in implementing the resolutions passed at the forum as most of the members of parliament at the PAP are also legislators in the national parliaments and could aid in achieving the goals set by CAADP in agricultural development.

In his own contribution, the head CAADP, Prof. Richard Mkandawire praised Kenya's efforts in helping to develop the agricultural sector in the country calling on the government to ensure it embrace CAADP and also endeavor to have the success stories in the agriculture sector replicated in other areas within the country and the region.

Prof. Mkandawire decried the continued lack of investment in the agriculture sector saying that infrastructure development is still at a minimum. "Given the erratic rainfall patterns which have been aggravated by the global environment we need to have irrigation infrastructure put in place so as to increase agricultural production

He praised Kenya’s commitment to embrace CAADP in the country's agricultural strategy and also in ensuring that the country progresses toward the signing of the CAADP Compact.

In a welcomed development, the Heads of State, Prime Ministers and Agriculture and Industry Ministers from 44 African countries, as well as heads and representatives of financial institutions and international organizations have endorsed the African Agribusiness and Agro-industries Development Initiative at a three-day conference that ended in Abuja on 10 March.

Speaking on this recent development, the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), Director General, Kandeh Yumkella said the initiative comprises a program framework and associated financial modalities through which the public and private sectors can mobilize resources for investment in agri-food sector development in Africa.

Yumkella pointed out the need for investment in food security, adding that the sub-Saharan Africa alone will need about $940bn of investment to feed two billion people by 2050 and that about 66 per cent of this, will be required for agribusiness and agro-industries capital outlays.

“Agribusiness in Africa needs to undergo a profound structural transformation and technological upgrading during the next 20 years to generate jobs and income urgently needed by Africa’s growing population. The policy environment and technological capability required for the transformation of the agri-food system were more favorable than ever. We can no longer think globally and act locally. We are now forced to think globally and act regionally in order to make Africa a vibrant industrial centre,” he said.

Yumkella said some of the greatest growth potential for African agro-industry lies in small and medium enterprises, especially in assisting them to expand in order to take on national and regional markets and that the large-scale agro-enterprises should also be promoted as they can have important poverty-reduction impacts.

He pointed out the need for African governments to avoid policies, such as subsidies on labor-saving technologies, that bias technology choice in favor of large-scale, highly mechanized operations that are not aligned with the prevailing factor endowments and labor-intensive operations.

“Africa needed a new approach, including a sharper focus on agribusiness, an integrated and comprehensive regional and sub-regional agribusiness development, and strategies to develop regional and continent-wide value chains. Private enterprises had to be stimulated, technology and innovation expanded, innovative financing mechanisms introduced, infrastructure and energy constraints removed,” Yumkella further said.

He said that the improved governance in all parts of the value chain is also very crucial if African governments have to make any impact in agricultural development. “For agribusiness to become competitive, policies need to be in place, as well as research and practical actions to achieve a unique blend of ecological compliance and inclusive growth.”