Sylvia Mathews Burwell: Addressing the needs of smallholder farmers
By czarniesalazar | Published: 06 May, 2010
At the World Economic Forum on Africa in Dar es Salaam this week, participants will be generating new ideas to unlock Africa’s economic potential – from investing in new technologies; to opening new markets for African-made goods and services; to tapping the continent’s rich natural resources in ways that benefit all Africans.
But one of the continent’s potential economic powers shouldn’t be overlooked: its smallholder farmers. Helping Africa’s poorest smallholder farmers grow more crops and get them to market is one of the most important levers for lifting the continent out of hunger and poverty.
This is not a new idea. History has shown that almost no country has managed a rapid rise from poverty without increasing its agricultural productivity. In sub-Saharan Africa, agriculture represents two-thirds of all employment and about a third of GDP. If prosperity is to grow on the continent, agricultural productivity must grow with it.
Yet during the last three decades, as agricultural productivity has soared around the world, it has stagnated in sub-Saharan Africa. The average African farmer produces just over half a ton of cereal per acre. An Indian farmer gets twice that; a Chinese farmer, four times that; an American farmer, five times.
Now it’s Africa’s turn to reap the benefits of agricultural development.
At the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, we believe that’s possible. That’s why we have committed more than $1.4bn to address the needs of smallholder farmers – from developing new seeds that resist drought, pests and floods; to linking farmers to markets; to making sure they have access to the most up-to-date agricultural information and are supported by policies that contribute to their success. For example, more than 300m Africans rely on maize as their main food source. As sub-Saharan Africa begins to feel the effects of climate change, we are working with CIMMYT – the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre – and agricultural research institutions across the continent to develop maize seed that can survive drought.
Farmers are already benefiting from this partnership. During the severe drought that hit eastern Africa last year, farmers using the new maize varieties produced up to 30 percent more maize than those without the improved seeds.
For smallholder farmers like Rashid Said Mpinga, who grows maize in the Mogoro district of Tanzania, this new seed has provided some protection against hunger and crop failure. Despite the hot, dry conditions of recent years, his maize yield increased from 1 tonnes per hectare to 3.9 tonnes.
Unfortunately, millions of farmers in Africa lose food and income because they don’t have access to improved seed. That’s why the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa is focused on finding the best ways to get quality seed to farmers. Since its launch in 2006, the program has released 68 new varieties of improved seed – bred for traits such as resistance to insects, disease, and drought; educated thousands of local agro-dealers to share agricultural knowledge with small farmers; and held training for 280,000 farmers.
Success for small farmers, of course, is more than just access to quality seeds and training. They also need a place to sell their surplus. Our partners are working with businesses, government and other players to help connect farmers to local, regional and international markets. In Tanzania, Ethiopia, Kenya, and Rwanda, one such effort has helped 64,000 farmers produce high-quality coffee beans for export. This effort is on track to double the incomes of 1m smallholder farmers in East Africa within the next 12 years.
Success in agricultural development in Africa is not only possible, it’s happening. But building lasting change requires strong commitments by African governments, businesses, donors, and NGOs to come together around smallholder farmers so Africa can seed a better future. African nations, through their participation in the Comprehensive Africa Agricultural Development Programme, have agreed to boost their public spending on agriculture and increase productivity, and last year, the members of the G8 and G20 pledged $22bn to tackle food security and agricultural development.
Our shared challenge is to mobilise these resources, spend them effectively, and keep a long-term perspective even amid the financial storms and political challenges that may arise. I am optimistic that by working together, Africa and its millions of smallholder farmers will prosper.
Sylvia Mathews Burwell is the president of the Global
Development Program at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
Comment by Miles Teg
Good stuff. Promoting GMOs are you? Never you mind.
If you all wanna help, how about first NOT doing any harm? For starters:
1) addressing the effects of subsidies on prices africans receive for their products
2) using US and EU competition law to limit the destructive competition of your corporations in Africa on supply of food
3) stop bullying Africans at the WTO by seeking to to demand concessions so that they can have a tool to protect their small holder farmers (similar to the tool rich countries currently enjoy)…
Then we are talking… otherwise, unfortunately you simply have no class… you just have money, can buy technology and good coverage…
Get real these natives can read…
Comment by Erica Gray
It’s really should be about building healthy soil,not some magic seeds. Still, where are the health and environmental studies on gmo food?
Will Africa become the testing grounds for novel gmo crops that contain vaccines,drugs and industrial compounds?
Secret locations are in the US,so I’m pretty sure more of this kind of maddness will be promoted in Africa. At the expense of it’s people and the environment.
Comment by Mariann Bassey
This spectre of hunger has been utilised as a political tool to browbeat African nations to open their doors for the dumping of unwholesome foods. While hunger is being peddled as a major reason why Africa must accept genetically modified foods, more than a billion people go to bed hungry globally and about double that number suffer malnutrition because they are fed or underfed with foods that are not healthy.
Why not ask us what we want? We do not want AGRA. AGRA is a donor driven initiative with its own interests. Corporations will control our seeds, land, food and then our lives. AGRA is not in the best interests of Africans. Its business – Agribusiness
We insist on the utilization of the vital outcomes of the International Assessment of Agricultural Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD) review. The report made 20 key findings, amongst which was a call for far greater emphasis on agro-ecological approaches. The report concludes thus:
’Organic agriculture can increase agricultural productivity and can raise incomes with low-cost, locally available and appropriate technologies, without causing environmental damage. Furthermore, evidence shows that organic agriculture can build up natural resources, strengthen communities and improve human capacity, thus improving food security by addressing many different causal factors simultaneously’
If you truly want to help farmers, implement the IAASTD report, based on four years of deliberation and scientific, social science and economic analysis. We do not want our Continent Africa contaminated under any guise or form.
Comment by Kim Myhre
Millions of Africans lose food and income because they don’t have access to markets, not because they don’t have access to good seed. Farmers can produce their own good seed. This approach fails to take in to consideration pastoralists who share agricultural land, water resources and also suffer from poverty; fails to utilize local knowledge of land use-dynamics, and is industrial input heavy. Short term solutions such as altered seed will not solve issues long term and create an unhealthy dependence on corporate benevolence. That is not the same as supporting development. AGRA is a flawed program. Please rethink how you support agricultural development in Africa. There is plenty of accessible, solid, science -based information out there that can assist farmers in building soils, controlling pests, enrich biodiversity, and increase yield without modified seed or manufactured fertilizers. Improving food storage facilities, the land tenure negotiation process and access to markets along with the soils improvements and you will do more to feed the poor than your altered seeds will.
Comment by Pamela Drew
“Now it’s Africa’s turn to reap the benefits of agricultural development.”
Seriously, how do you Biotech Brigade Babes look yourselves in the mirror? What benefits have flowed from genetically engineered crops beyond privatizing the food supply and making a market for energy waste to be sold as farm chemicals to feed Monsanto and the Agent Orange Gang?
Let’s overlook the fact that no human health and safety testing has been required or done in America and that our decade plus GMO feeding trial. Don’t look for any corollary between the %$#@ US consumers have been duped into swallowing or the Roundup Ready Nation of diabetics and obese children, food allergies and autoimmune diseases out the wazoo.
While PR like this is standard fare for the alphabet soup of of Industry front groups from AGRA to Ventria it doesn’t take too much sleuthing to see Biotech supporters work to feed the hungry corporate hands that feed them.
Shame on all of you Roundup Ready food peddlers.
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Sylvia_Mathews_Burwell
http://www.gmwatch.org/myth-makers
Comment by Caroline Figueres
Getting small farmers involved in sustainable economic development has everything to do with getting them informed and more knowledgable to take good decisions. For this they need to be connected to the world. We help them in this process. See http://www.IICD.org and read how farmers increase (maïze) production, quality of products, access to markets, incomes and more thanks to smart use of ICTs (internet, mobile devices, community radios, TV, etc)
Comment by Candida
i read this article and i felt very motivate to continue working to provide animal food for the poor people in some rural place in Mozambique and by this way i want to share with you Sylvia and all people in africa this inniciatives by helping support the projects with this dimmension….please keep share all information and inniciative because i hope that is the better way to grow and grow helping poor people….here in africa
Comment by Vinod Dhall
An overwhelming number of farmers in Africa are WOMEN, who toil in the fields with a long handled hoe with a child at the back, in the hot African sun.
Only if she was able to use a pair of bullocks or for that matter any animal, donkeys, even zebras (!) that are abundant, she would be able to cover four times the area. Land is abundant.
And obtain at least 3 times the income (with poor seeds, no fertilizers etc) She will then have invest-able surpluses for the next cycle. Better seeds, fertilizers etc will follow.
Farm power, easily accessible and maintained, is the key to improving African Agriculture. No one has done it otherwise. Some one has to provide about $500-$1000 worth animal drawn implements.
At the base of all human progress is means and tools to do more than just the physical strength of Humans.