Online Reporter
Engineer Tapuwa Justice Mashangwa,
As we write our agricultural African tale, we should objectively focus on sustainable and scalable agricultural systems. This improvement can only transpire through aligning our sector to international agricultural standards of our products and services, a crucial area that has been stifling our growth in the development of our agricultural industry from primary production to processing to product distribution.
If we are to look at the toothpick industry. Most toothpicks are made from wood and principally birchwood because of its strength, low cost, lack of odour and sufficient stiffness. A one cubic metre block of birchwood costs USD$25.00 and it can produce 1.2 million toothpicks. Most toothpick cases hold 200 toothpicks, which translates to 6 000 container cases of 200 toothpicks. If one can supply a case at USD$0.25, this translates to USD$1 500.00. The resource that was initially purchased at USD$25.00 is now worth USD$1 500.00. This is what is known as value addition.
In a business context value addition is the process of enhancing a product or service to make it more desirable or valuable to a customer thereby justifying a higher price. Agriculture in Africa unfortunately significantly lags behind in this department.
International food agro-processing companies rely on our raw products, which they use for their businesses. The global top 10 international food agro-processing companies are Nestle, PepsiCo, Mondelez International, Danone, Archer Daniels Midland, Cargill, Associated British Foods plc, General Mills, Kellanova (formerly Kellogg’s) and Kraft Heinz. These get a lot of raw products and very cheap prices from Africa.
These companies operate globally and are involved in various aspects of food and beverage production, from sourcing and processing to manufacturing and distribution. Not one of the companies is originally African, yet Africa endowed with approximately 874 million hectares of land considered suitable for agricultures, still fails to recognise and appreciate our higher value if we engage in agro-processing.
The second agricultural industrial revolution lies in the processing of agro-produce to supply national, regional and international markets. Full scale agricultural production for our African continent primarily lies in the optimum production of various products which is improving.
In 2024, maize accounted for 43 percent of Africa’s total cereal production, making it the dominant grain, according to a report from RATIN. Rice (paddy) followed at approximately 19 percent, with sorghum at 13 percent. Wheat and millet each contributed roughly 9-11 percent.
Also in 2024, Africa’s nut production saw varied trends across different regions.
Côte d’Ivoire is projected to produce around 1.15 million tonnes in 2025, a 20 percent increase from 2024.
Tanzania’s projected production for the 2024/2025 season is around 408,600 tonnes, a 34 percent increase.
Aquaculture production in Africa reached 2.4 million tonnes 2024, with significant regional disparities. North Africa, particularly Egypt, dominates production, followed by West and East Africa.
The African horticulture sector is experiencing growth and transformation, with various countries seeing increases in production and exports. Zimbabwe, for example, reported a 13 percent increase in overall horticultural production, with significant rises in crops like potatoes, onions and blueberries, a subsector we are leading globally.
All this production can extensively benefit our continent if and only our processing industries can turn the raw produce into packaged goods marketable nationally, regionally and internationally.
Among the processing industry are: fish and meat processing, dairy processing, grain milling, fruit and vegetable processing, bakery and confectionery, oilseeds and fats processing, aquaculture and seafood processing, pulses and protein processing, horticulture processing and cereals and grains processing.
The achievement of a consolidated and cooperative processing industry can exist if the main agricultural challenges that have been the same for centuries are addressed: postharvest losses, lack of access to technology, infrastructural constraints, expensive loans and unfavourable import regulations.
Many farms and farmers in sub-Saharan Africa do not have preventive and proactive measures in place to address post-harvest losses. While the majority of farmers now have access and utilise mobile applications for the farming activities there is extensive limited access to technology. How many farmers can purchase, implement, maintain and assess efficiency and effectiveness of ICT software and hardware? Moreover the cost of internet in many areas is still high and the internet in inaccessible. Infrastructural constraints such as poor road, rail and air logistics are still an issue. Poor logistics networks mean high transportation costs and inconsistent delivery of produce still drain our potential.
Whilst financial institutions have money to disburse most of their business models are inapplicable to most farmer’s status quo. Our interest rates are exorbitant in comparison to our agricultural counterparts in developed countries and some loan tenures are not reasonable or relevant for the agricultural sector.
Competition from imports also needs to be addressed. As long as financing is expensive in any country it means that the price tag on processed goods will be high, in turn meaning that most of the population will not be able afford what is produced locally and the majority of the populace will prefer lower priced imported goods.
The domino effect of all these challenges is significant and greatly affects agriculture today. There is no progress without challenges, no peace without war. So amidst all the chaos and inadequacies, we must be cognisant of the fact that we are the only ones that can create an optimised agricultural system.
The writer is Eng. Tapuwa Justice Mashangwa, GCEO Emerald Investments, CEO DataFarm, CEO Emerald Agribusiness and CEO TranslateZW. He can be contacted on +263771641714 and email: [email protected] or [email protected].
