Effective policy advocacy needed for improved agriculture

The national coordinator of NACOFAG, Mr. Alieu Sowe has pointed out that revamping agricultural productivity in sub-Saharan Africa requires a two pronged approach which combines effective policy advocacy and practical activities including capacity enhancement to cope with dynamics in agricultural production at farm level and changes in the market place.

He made this statement shortly before his departure to Burkina Faso, where he would be attending a weeklong training of trainers under the auspices of Network of Farmers' and Agricultural Producers' Organisations of West Africa (ROPPA) in partnership with ACORD.

Africa stands out globally as the only region in which the average per capita food production has been consistently falling for the last 40 years, adding that currently more than 265 million people, majority of them women and children are undernourished and chronically food insecure. Studies undertaken by specialized agencies in food and agriculture sector, all seem to point out that in the coming decades, Africa will have to feed a population that is expected to increase from slightly more than half a billion currently to two billion in 2050, he said.

Noting that droughts, floods, food shortages and price inflations have become commonplace in the country, he said that the soaring food prices have had a devastating impact on the rural and urban poor. He further said that as hunger rises, the urban poor and rural communities across the continent struggle to afford basic food commodities. He also added that the high cost of farm inputs, inadequate marketing skills, lack of and in some areas inadequate technical advisory services, poor management skills of limited natural resource base, among others, have affected production and productivity, thus contributing to hunger and food crisis of unprecedented magnitude and impact since the global economic depression of 1930s.

He said that recent declines in prices on the world market have not been felt in local African markets, where the prices on average are still higher than in the previous years, adding that regional prices for staples such as rice, maize and sorghum have increased by over 100% in some countries.

“Rising food insecurity linked to lack of access to adequate food is heightened by growing pressure on national food stocks, dependence on food imports, climate change and growing competition for land for production of bio-fuel,” he said, noting that it is thus time that an effective policy advocacy and practical activities are brought in, in order to realize an improved agricultural production in the continent.

He noted that the training of trainers workshop would target and work more closely with regional farmers via national farmers’ networks and organizations affiliated to these sub-regional networks.

He continued that the training would cover areas such as crops and livestock production, marketing skills development, land and water management, economics literacy and budget analysis for good governance (ELBAG), policy advocacy and related tools and food sovereignty and gender assessment framework.

Mr. Sowe further stressed that the objective of the TOT regional farmers network meeting is to improve small farmers and pastoralists knowledge on crop and livestock production methods, sustainable and land and water management practices and existing agricultural policy framework, to increase the skills of small-scale farmer and pastoralists to access market, increase capacity of small-scale farmers and pastoralists organizations to develop and disseminate agricultural information and practices to their members (women and men) and strengthen capacity of small-scale farmers and pastoralists organizations to engage in CAAP and AU PPE processes.

According to him, the expected outputs include the training of trainers program to small-scale farmer and pastoralist organization on agricultural policy, including information relating to livestock and crop production, marketing efficiency and land and water management designed and delivered.

He said that the regional and Pan-African workshop will bring together farmers and pastoralists organizations, regional economic communities (RECs) and the AU to better understand and participate in CAADP implementation and PPF development.