Lack of access to the market and poor infrastructure networks are some of the key contributors to farmers’ failure to grow in Africa. This leads to the demotivation to work the land and ultimately job losses, according to former World Bank economist Dr Uma Lele.
Lele spoke at the annual Mohammad Karaan memorial lecture, where she was also honoured with an honorary degree, doctor of science in agriculture honoris causa.
The lecture focused on challenges to sub-Saharan Africa, ranging from the effects of the Russia-Ukraine war, farmer development, climate change, political instability, and policy and framework development on agriculture.
What needs to be done?
The honorary degree was based on her vision of the theory and practice of rural development globally, and the pursuit to influence public policy through rigorous empirical research.
“There is a great deal that needs to happen for the farmers to be connected to consumers and when they are not connected, there is some production loss. Farmers end up seeing no point in planting the same crop again when there is no market,” she said.
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Lele said the African continent lagged behind in terms of value chain connectedness with farmers and consumers which is an important part of development that needs to happen.
She said in failing to address these pressing issues, the African continent would fall further behind in agricultural transformation for years to come.
“This includes digital agriculture, however, multi-sectoral investment in education, health and infrastructure are also equally important. We can never stop stressing this, invest in the value chains because, with sustainable value chains, we can see farmers flourish. [It’s] important [to] promote farmer organisations for interrelations purposes,” she said.
Lele said countries need to ensure that there is a sound stable, predictable policy framework in the context of a rapidly changing environment such as climate change.
Reach out to each other
She explained that it is important for countries to learn from one another. “Kenya for instance has got several programmes that have been very successful for a long time such as the Kenya Tea Development Agency.”
The reason for this lies in the Kenyan government’s strong institutional infrastructure, Lele said.
Lele emphasised that human capital investment is critical in ensuring that agricultural growth is realised.
“Personally, I am a believer in human capital investment. Some countries have not done much when it comes to human capital investment which derails the development and growth of the sector significantly,” she said.
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