[RwandaLibre] Africa's economy grows, but many stomachs are empty

 

Africa's economy grows, but many stomachs are empty

Daily News Egypt - 2 hours ago
By Kingsley Ighobor

Each year, governments, journalists, development experts and others
look forward to the United Nations Development Programme's Human
Development Report. The report includes a ranking of countries based
on life expectancy, literacy, quality of life and so on. Once it is
released, governments and citizens of countries with high rankings
immediately trumpet their achievements. Those with lower rankings,
such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which was last in 2013
in Africa, come in for criticism.

When UNDP announced it would launch its first-ever Africa Human
Development Report in 2012, many expected that it would also include a
general country ranking. Instead, the regional report focused on the
theme "Towards a food secure future", with extensive analyses and
recommendations on that topic. If the intention of the 190-page report
was to generate debate on filling empty stomachs in Africa with
nutritious food, that goal was accomplished -- probably beyond
expectations.

Setting the tone

Helen Clark, UNDP administrator, and Tegegnework Gettu, then director
of the Programme's Africa bureau, set the tone in the opening pages of
the report. Ms Clark writes: "It is my hope that this first Africa
Human Development Report will energise a debate on how to strengthen
food security... and lead to more decisive action."

Mr Gettu's preface is a provocative clarion call to African leaders.
"Africa is not fated to starve," he writes. "That is an affront to
both its dignity and its potential... Africa must stop begging for food...
Had the African governments over the last 30 years met their people's
aspirations, the report would not be necessary. One quarter of the
people in sub-Saharan Africa would not be undernourished, and one
third of African children would not be stunted."

Nigeria's former President Olusegun Obasanjo echoed Mr Gettu's theme,
saying that African leadership should be indicted in the area of food
production. "It tells us what we know: that the poverty of Africa is
the making of African leaders over the years."

During Asia's green revolution, for example, many Asian countries
spent up to 20% of their budgets on agriculture, while African
countries currently spend between 5 to 10% on the sector. This is
despite African leaders' commitment in 2003 to allocate at least 10%
of national budgets to agriculture. At the moment, Africa spends more
on the military than on agriculture.

Hunger amidst plenty

There is a harsh paradox of suffering amidst plenty of a continent
with rich, arable land but unable to feed its citizens. "Hunger and
malnutrition remain pervasive on a continent with ample agricultural
endowments," notes Mr Gettu. "Africa has the knowledge, the
technology, and the means to end hunger and insecurity."

Sub-Saharan Africa is the world's most food-insecure region and where
poverty is particularly alarming, according to UNDP. Up to 25% of
sub-Saharan Africa's 856 million people are undernourished, with 15
million people facing serious risks in the Sahel and an equal number
in the Horn of Africa.

The worsening food situation dampens glowing reports on Africa's
fast-growing economies, which have expanded by an annual average of 5%
to 6% during the past decade. However, notes Ms Clark, "Impressive GDP
growth rates in Africa have not translated into the elimination of
hunger and malnutrition."

Ms Clark canvasses coordinated solutions. "Building a food-secure
future for all Africans will only be achieved if efforts span the
entire development agenda." Without good roads, for example, surplus
food cannot enter the market.

Important steps

The right steps can be taken right away to stem the tide of food
insecurity. Some of these steps are listed in the UNDP report:
"Greater agricultural productivity of smallholder farmers more
effective nutrition policies, especially for children greater
community and household resilience to cope with shocks and wider
popular participation and empowerment, especially of women and the
rural poor."

It appears that many African leaders agree with these steps. For
example, Africa's first elected female president, Ellen
Johnson-Sirleaf of Liberia, considers the role of women in food
security "profound and critical". According to President
Johnson-Sirleaf, better education and access to food assets such as
land, capital and labour will likely increase productivity by 20%. Her
position aligns with the report, which urges countries to "end decades
of bias against agriculture and women," because women's education can
lower malnutrition in children more than an increase in household
income. Compared with other regions, African women have the least
access to land.

Former Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki once linked nutritious food to
mental and physical well-being, and added that "it also enables people
to exercise their freedoms and capabilities in different fields".
Kenya is rated as a high-risk food-insecure country. During his time
in office, President Kibaki said that a five-year drought had a huge
negative impact on agriculture. Kenya's agricultural sector has
however been revived from a negative growth of 2.3% in 2009 to over
6.3%.

Analysts believe that agriculture is the main driver of the Kenyan
economy, which the IMF projects will grow at 6.2% this year. Anders
Ostman, a former head of the Swedish International Development Agency
in Africa, advised Kenya and other African countries to pay more
attention to agriculture. Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta said last
year that his government would assist farmers to adopt modern farming
technology that will bring about a "revolution" in agriculture.

However, Africa faces some headwinds in agricultural development.
Opinion is unanimous that climate change will have a negative impact
on agriculture. "Africa is most susceptible to variations in
agro-climate," according to the late Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles
Zenawi, who noted that "climate change exacerbates the problem of food
insecurity." The semi-arid region from Senegal to Chad and the Horn of
Africa, particularly Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia, have all
been affected by severe climate conditions, according to the Africa
Human Development Report.

In addition to the impact of drought on food security, famines often
also get the headlines, even though uneven access to food due to low
incomes is as much a problem. "The silent crises of chronic
malnourishment and seasonal hunger do not receive nearly enough
attention," notes the report. Increased agricultural production does
not necessarily guarantee food security unless there are improvements
in access to health, better roads, more job opportunities and
empowerment of women.

Bright spots

Notwithstanding the deplorable food situation in sub-Saharan Africa,
there are many bright spots, including Nigeria, where the government's
Agricultural Transformation Agenda is expected to ensure food
sufficiency and create 3.5 million jobs by 2015. Ghana has already
halved poverty by boosting cocoa farmers, becoming the first
sub-Saharan country to achieve the first Millennium Development Goal,
which is to reduce by half the proportion of people living in poverty
and hunger by 2015.

Malawi undertook a huge seed and fertiliser subsidy programme and
turned its food deficit into a 1.3 million tonne surplus in just two
years. In Senegal child malnutrition was lowered from 34 to 20%
between 1990 and 2005 through increased national agricultural budgets.
By increasing agriculture's budget from 1.6% in 2008 to 7.7% in 2009,
Sierra Leone grew 784,000 tonnes of rice, above the domestic
requirement of 550,000 tonnes.

As the continent posts world-beating economic growth rates, it needs
to move faster to fill empty stomachs with nutritious food. Time will
tell whether the current set of African leaders can achieve that goal.

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