Youth: Hope of Africa’s food security

Kanayo F. Nwanze Correspondent
There is no doubt that Africa has made progress at the policy level and that there have been major developments. These include the Maputo Declaration of 2003, the Malabo Declaration of 2014; and the CAADP compacts of more than 20 countries to accelerate agricultural development. However, the question remains — What do we actually have to show for all these declarations, commitments and frameworks?

What are the tangible results on the ground? Can we say there has been progress when 58 million of our children suffer from stunting and 43 percent of our people live in extreme poverty? When Africa is the only region in the world where the number of people living in absolute poverty has actually grown since 1990 and is now 330 million?

Potential squandered

Africa has such enormous potential. It is a land rich in resources, in minerals, oil and gas; a continent blessed with fertile land, abundant rainfall, sunshine and an energetic, youthful population. Can we say there has been progress when a region as rich as Africa is unable to feed itself? Are we really proud to be Africans? I can remember a time when countries like Brazil, Cambodia, China, India and Korea were in deep crisis. In those years, Africa was a beacon of hope. Where did we go wrong?

The answer, I think, is both simple and devastating — lack of committed, visionary leadership at all levels of our society; lack of national pride, and a blind eye to greed and corruption.

For decades, Africa has wasted opportunities and squandered its potential. Economies based on extractive industries and commodities have made a few people very rich and left hundreds of millions in hunger, poverty, and squalor. And today, when food security is of global concern, there is a growing danger that the richness of Africa’s agricultural land will be recognised and exploited — but not by Africans for the benefit of Africans. But by outsiders for foreign markets.

And if we are letting others gain from our land and resources, who is to blame? If you choose to rent out your bedroom, do you blame your tenant if you have to sleep on the veranda? At the same time, Africa’s annual food import bill is $35 billion, and it could top $100 billion by 2025.

We all know what this means. It means that Africa is creating jobs in other countries — in Europe, Asia and the Americas — to grow and process our food when millions of our young people are unemployed and our region suffers the highest youth working poverty rates in the world. This is money that should be fuelling Africa’s growth and creating wealth, employment and opportunity.

Investing in rural people

In my years as the head of the International Fund for Agricultural Development, I have travelled the world. I have travelled the length and breadth of our continent, from Senegal to Zanzibar, from Rabat to Cape Town, and I know that our continent is teeming with opportunity. I have met with all levels of government, civil society and the private sector, to spread the message that agricultural development can change lives and lead to economic prosperity when it is centred on smallholder farmers.

I have seen over and over again that when we invest in rural people — particularly in women — it generates huge dividends. For we know that no nation has transformed itself without giving women the same rights and opportunities as men. I don’t think I need to convince anyone here today about the importance of small-scale agriculture to food security and nutrition, to economic growth, to social well-being and to vibrant, cohesive communities.

But agricultural development alone does not transform nations. Transformation requires good governance, transparency and accountability. It requires strong institutions, the rule of law, and the protection of the rights of the most vulnerable. Only then can the benefits of agricultural development be fully realised.

Change cannot be imposed from outside, it must be cultivated from within. As I have said before: Development is not something that we do for or to people, development is what people do for themselves. Every tree, every plant, must be fully rooted in its own soil to flourish. And it is the same with nations. — African Executive.