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| Akinwumi Adesina, President of the African Development Bank |
AfDB
launches pilot programme to cultivate the savannah in eight African countries.
The savannahs of Africa cover a
mind-boggling 600 million hectares, of which 400 million hectares are
cultivable, the President of the African Development Bank, Akinwumi Adesina, has
said.
But just 10 percent of this is
cultivated, a mere 40 million hectares, Adesina said Wednesday, while speaking at
a session titled “Transformation of the African Savannah Initiative” at
the 2017 World Food Prize-Borlaug Dialogue symposium in Des Moines,
Iowa.
According to the AfDB
President, so huge is the potential of African savannahs that the World Bank
called the Guinea savannah zone “one of the major underutilised resources in
Africa.”
He noted that Africa’s
savannahs were better than the savannahs of Brazil, a country notable for
turning its savannahs into agricultural wealth, saying Africa’s soils were not
acidic and therefore did not need liming which had to be done at massive scales
in Brazil.
“The initiative will start by
bringing approximately two million hectares of savannah in eight African
countries — Ghana, Guinea, Democratic Republic of Congo, Central African
Republic, Uganda, Kenya, Zambia, and Mozambique — under the cultivation of
maize, soybean, and livestock production in optimum conditions.” The goal: to
double production in those eight countries.
“Africa must learn from the
experiences that have worked elsewhere, while tailoring the interventions to
the specific realities of Africa. We must ensure that small, medium-scale and
large-scale commercial farmers co-exist in a way that allows opportunities for
all,” Adesina said.
The 2017 World Food Prize
Laureate explained that partnerships in research and development would be
crucial, saying that was why the AfDB had engaged to work with the strongest
possible organisations with proven track records in tropical agriculture from
South America.
Some of them, he said, included
the Brazilian Research Corporation (EMBRAPA), the Agricultural Corporation of
Brazil (CAMPO), as well as others with long experience in conservation
agriculture, including the Argentine Association of Zero-tillage (AAPRESID),
and the Argentine Agricultural Research Institute.
“They will work very closely
with universities and the national agricultural research systems across the
savannahs of Africa,” he noted.
The AfDB Vice-President of
Agriculture, Human and Social Development, Jennifer Blanke, also explained that
the Bank was determined to increase productivity so that Africa would become a
net producer and exporter of agricultural produce.
Blanke said, “The idea is to
have more job creation and create the next generation of agripreneurs. We
can’t do everything. So, we’ve broken it down to certain number of value chains
that we are going to tackle in Africa.
“If you look at the savannah,
it has massive potential. In fact, it spans about 400 million hectares and only
about 10 percent of it is utilised. It covers about 25 countries and about 240
million people are depending on agriculture in these areas and about half of
them are living in poverty.”
The AfDB Vice-President
highlighted that the savannah initiative, which begins in November, will use
the best technology in order to transform the savannah based on the experience
of Brazil.
Brazil has a history of building
their own savannah, which is their cerrados, with these kinds of
technologies, Blanke added.
“It was about driving farms
that were producing a new variety of soya beans. It was very difficult and we
know that, but amazing things happened,” she said.
The Former Minister of
Agriculture of Brazil, Chairman of CAMPO and 1996 World Food Prize Laureate, Dr
Alysson Paulinelli, in his address, noted that in the 1970s, Brazil was
suffering a lot, like Africa today. Paulinelli said, “We imported
two-thirds of what we consumed. Brazilian families had to use about 42 percent
of net income to feed themselves. We had to decide how to save Brazil. It was
doomed to bankruptcy.
“So, we made a decision to
drive a change in agriculture. The first thing we did was to realise that
Brazilian agriculture was not different from colder climates. Brazil, the way
things were, could not be self-sufficient, so we had to change our production
system.
“The government needed to
change first, but the Government was not ready. So, we put together a group of
experts and they convinced the Government. After the Government, the farmers
had to change and we believed it would benefit them.”
Today, Brazil exports US $100
billion in food items, Paulinelli added. He explained that the feat was
not that difficult, saying that those who want innovation must believe in the
benefit of science.
“Now, we are reaching Africa.
And, on the request of the AfDB, we will start work in Ghana,” he said.
“The support from Japan was
crucial to our success. Those who were doing the work in the fields received
all the information from the institutions.”
Meanwhile, the Ghanaian Deputy
Minister of Agriculture, Sagre Bambangi, underscored the biological,
socioeconomic and political dimensions to consider.
According to Bambangi, the
Government of Ghana initiated a campaign that ensures availability of food in
the country, thereby creating job opportunities.
“We in
Ghana are delighted to have been chosen to host the TASI pilot programme,” he
said.
Visit the AfDB website here.
The Global Miller
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which is published by Perendale Publishers Limited.
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