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The African Journal of Food and Nutritional Security Vol. 1, No. 1, 2001, pages 35-44 The Role of Agricultural Technology in Food and Nutritional Security in Africa
Moctar Toure and Mohamood Noor
Special Program for African Agricultural Research (SPAAR), The World Bank, 1818 H Street N. W., Washington, D.C., USA Code Number: fn01005 ABSTRACT Agriculture, the most important industry in Africa, has not provided adequate food security and economic well-being for the continent's population. Agricultural production per capita and total exports declined since the 1970s, while population and urbanization increases resulted in growing demand. This inadequate performance was largely due to:
However, Africa has the potential to achieve high productivity in agriculture. This is indicated by the high rate of return (ROR) to investment in research and extension and the recent positive response to favourable agricultural policies in a number of countries, that are beginning to enhance productivity. To bring about sustained agricultural growth throughout sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), the above-mentioned constraints must be removed by:
The development and utilization of profitable and environmentally-friendly technology is an essential factor for the transformation of agriculture into a modern sector. The impact of technology can be attained through the revitalization of agricultural research and extension institutions, which requires:
Key Words: food security, agricultural production, agricultural policies, agricultural GDP, agricultural technology, rural infrastructure, irrigation, input supply, rate of return, research and extension. Food security and the performance of agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA)
Agriculture is the most important economic activity in Africa. It contributes about 35% of GDP, provides employment for 70% of its labour force, supplies raw materials to agro-industries and export commodities for export. Agriculture is also the primary source of food security for both the urban and the rural population in Africa. The term, "food security" is defined as access by all people, at all times to enough food for an active healthy life (World Bank, 1986). It takes into consideration the availability of food and the ability to acquire it. Therefore, for a household or a nation, food security is the ability to produce or buy enough food. In 1980, about 150 million Africans (i.e., about 44% of the population in 37 countries), had an energy deficient diet which was 90% of the minimum required calories for an active working life (World Bank, 1986). This situation has not improved. The root causes of this food insecurity are highlighted as follows:
Since independence in the early 1960s, per capita agricultural production in SSA has declined sharply, bringing down the volume of food commodities for local consumption as well as for export. The data in Figure 1 show the decline in agricultural production per capita and export from 1961 to 1992 (Masters and Sanders, 1995). The decline in per capita production translated into worsening poverty and malnutrition, and the decline in exports resulted in reduced capacity to import food and other essential goods.
Figure 1 also indicates that in the 1960s, African per capita agricultural production and exports increased modestly. The decline began in the 1970s as a result of inappropriate agricultural policies, overvalued exchange rates and drought in arid and semi-arid lands. There was some improvement in agricultural performance in the 1980s, when some of the earlier-mentioned constraints were removed. A study by the International service for National Agricultural Research (ISNAR) (Pardey et al., 1995), is a clear indication that decline in per capita AgGDP was responsible for the decline of the total GDP per capita ( Figure 2). Other economic sectors performed reasonably well between 1961 and 1991, as shown by the growth of the non-AgGDP. The AgGDP per capita declined during the entire period in two-thirds of the African countries.
The decline in per capita agricultural production is in part related to rapid population growth. In fact, total agricultural production in SSA increased from 1960 to 1994, as indicated in Figure 3 (Masters and Sanders, 1995). Figure 3 clearly shows that increases in grain production prior to 1980 were entirely due to area expansion, while after 1980 a substantial share of the production growth has been due to the increased yields. These yield increases have been achieved with increased use of inputs, labour, adoption of new seed varieties, as well as new agronomic techniques. These changes have compensated for declining growth in the area planted. However, grain yields in SSA are still behind the rest of the developing world, as shown in Figure 4. The yield levels in 1960, in SSA and South Asia were similar, but SSA yeilds stagnated while South Asian yields rose to the average for other less developed countries (LDCs). These data show the weakness of African agriculture as well as the possibility for further growth in yields. One crop where yield increases were noticeable throughout SSA was maize. On the average, the production of maize registered an average annual growth rate of 2.57% for the period 1966-1988 as shown in Table 1 (Gilbert et al, 1993). About 1.8% came from area expansion, and 0.74% came from increase in yields. This increase in yields, at a time of area expansion, is significant, because movement to marginal areas tends to reduce yields. However, the annual growth in production, regardless of the cause, is an indication that maize enjoyed a technology and market-induced competitive advantage. The greatest annual yield increases were obtained in East Africa, followed by West Africa; while area expansion was greatest in West and Central Africa.
The faster average yield growth in South Asia compared to Africa is associated
with growth in input, as shown in Table 2.
The annual growth in cropped area was higher in Africa, while the annual growth
in fertilizer use per hectare was higher in South Asia. Fertilizer use declined
in the 1980s in Africa. In both areas, there was a trend of falling growth in
cropped areas, reflecting the limitation of good cropland.
At least two factors contributed to the divergence in the growth of yields between Africa and South Asia, as shown in Table 3 (Masters and Sanders, 1995). In the 1960s, the fertilizer use in both continents was about 5 kg/ha; however, by 1985, Africa stood at 13 kg/ha while South Asia used 53 kg/ha. Fertilizer use for the same period increased over 10 times in South Asia, while it doubled with Africa. In irrigation, Africa started from a lower base of 3.1% of cropped land in the 1960s and ended with only 3.9% of cropped land by 1985. In South Asia, the startling base in the 1960s was 20% of cropped land, by 1985, it was 30%. The high level of irrigation makes the use of fertilizers more attractive. Therefore, a combination of high yielding varieties, fertilizers with other inputs and irrigation, made the Green Revolution possible in South Asia.
Lessons from several experiences demonstrate that Africa following the example of Asia, can increase both productivity and production, utilizing water-retention or water conservation agro-techniques, that raise soil moisture and thereby make the use of fertilizer more productive. A vivid example is provided by the Machakos district experience in Kenya. Such techniques which require investment in time and resources by farmers, are likely to be adopted where agricultural production tends to be profitable. Experience of Soil and Water conservation in Machakos, Kenya
In order to reverse soil degradation and erosion, techniques for soil conservation, moisture retention and tree planting were introduced in the 1920s. It was then largely accepted by farmers. By 1990, with nearly five times the population as in1920, the district's agriculture production increased five-fold and land degradation was reversed (World Bank, 1995). Factors that contributed to this success were:
Africa has a greater productivity potential than South Asia. An analysis of the global potential capacity to produce food, ranked Africa second in potential productivity among the continents, following only Latin America (Linneman et al, 1979), as shown in Table 4. In fact, some African countries, e.g. Kenya, Madagascar, and Senegal, have a potential higher or comparable to the Latin American average.
The role and the performance of research and extension
To improve food security in SSA, priority must be given to the development of the agricultural sector, since most of the poor derive their income and most of the food they consume from farming. This will also have beneficial impact on the urban poor through increases in food availability. The most appropriate way to stimulate growth in agriculture is to invest in activities that raise productivity and reduce production, processing, and marketing costs. Agricultural research and extension have a crucial role to play in both dimensions. Intensive agriculture is technology-dependent, as the yield gains in crop production in South Asia and Africa mentioned in the previous section, demonstrate. The same is true for intensive animal production, e.g., in the East African highlands. Intensification is generally associated with high-yielding varieties (crops) breeds (livestock), and improved husbandry practices (water, fertilizers, feed, pesticides, veterinary drugs and vaccines). The development and adoption of improved and profitable technologies is often subject to the quality of interactions between research, extension and users. Effective and regular interaction between researchers, clients and stakeholders, backed by sound macro/micro economies and policy analysis, ensure:
Agricultural research in Africa fell short of the performance of its counterparts in Asia. Some of the reasons for this disparity, such as policy related issues, are beyond the scope of agricultural research. However, there are a number of structural distortions that constrain the performance of agricultural research. Some of these constraints are rooted in history. During the colonial period, agricultural research which was focused on commercial crops, was well funded and covered a large number of colonies to benefit from economies of scale. After independence, fragmented agricultural research continued to be funded mostly by donors, and was carried out in project "enclaves" by national and expatriate scientists. The research agenda was donor-driven and often did not reflect well identified producer constraints. Another drawback was the over-dependence on external funding that resulted in a rapid decline in project completion. The limited achievements obtained are due to the short nature of the project mode which is not suitable for agricultural research and is a long-term investment. However, in the three decades following independence, African agricultural research saw an increase in research facilities and trained scientists. The number of scientists in SSA including South Africa, grew fourfold from 1961 to 1991 (Pardey et al., 1995). In the same period, in 16 African countries, the number of research scientists and the amount of research spending, grew largely together from 1961 to the mid-1970s. thereafter, there was a dramatic decrease in allocation of funding per scientist as shown in Figure 5. The number of scientists continued to grow, while the funding of agricultural research stagnated in some countries and declined in others. Therefore, most of the allocation went into salaries, and there were inadequate resources for operating expenditures. In addition, even these limited allocations were often untimely, and did not coincide with agricultural seasons, to produce the intended impact. At the regional level, the metropolitan colonial research institutions were
replaced by the international agricultural research centres (IARCs) or other
similar international institutions that operated through nurseries and networks.
This regional collaboration did have a positive impact on the generation of
productive technologies. However, the weakness of the cooperating national agricultural
research systems (NARSs), and the dominant role of the international partners,
made the research agenda externally driven. Therefore, the limited impact of
agricultural research in Africa, both at the national and regional levels, is
due to the inadequate involvement of African governments and African scientists
in its funding and management. This lack of involvement was understandable immediately
after independence, because of the limited number of African scientists. Agricultural extension, in recent years, has enjoyed relatively more support in comparison to agricultural research. A substantial number of countries have invested in the development of national agricultural extension services. These efforts have had positive initial results which require further strengthening. However, without adequate parallel investment in agricultural research, these extension services will run out of technologies to extend.
The impact of agricultural research and extension
Several recent impact studies of agricultural research (Oehmke and Crawford, 1993; Gilbert et al, 1993; CIP, 1992; Seck et al, 1994) have shown that agricultural research is a cost-effective investment. The rate of return (ROR) which is a good measure of the effect of investment on the well-being of the society, was quite high, as shown in Table 5. The study covers several diverse African countries as well as a number of crops. This high ROR is a clear indication that agricultural constraints facing African producers can be alleviated through the generation and transfer of technology. Such a positive technological impact is often translated into increased food security and improved nutrition.
Similar impact assessments of Training and Visit (T&V) extension systems were carried out in Kenya and Burkina Faso (Bindlish and Evenson, 1993; Bindlish, Evenson and Gbetibouo, 1993). The ROR was estimated at between 160-350% for Kenya and 86-187% for Burkina Faso. Therefore, investment in agricultural research and extension is cost-effective and can lead to the desired agricultural development, necessary for the realization of food security. The impact of agricultural technology in SSA is less in comparison to other developing countries, but important. These impacts, together with a favourable agricultural policy, have resulted in agricultural growth in Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda, Benin, Guinea and Mauritius during the 1988-1992 period. Kenya, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Mali and Burkina Faso have done relatively well throughout the 1980s. Despite the setbacks, there are some notable technology-based impacts on productivity increases in some important agricultural commodities. The most significant achievements were: maize (throughout Africa), cassava (West and East Africa), rice (West Africa), beans and potatoes (East and the Central African Highlands), horticulture, zero grazing of dairy cattle and dual purpose goats (Kenya), agroforestry and animal health (in a large number of countries) and cotton (West Africa). A study of maize (Gilbert et al., 1993) estimated an average annual improvement in maize production of between 5.1 and 10.0 million metric tons and additional other coarse grain production of between 3.8 and 6.7 million metric tons. These production increases are equivalent to an annual reduction of between US$0.6-1.0 billion in imports and an increase in AgGDP of between 1 and 2%, as shown in figure 6.
These limited success stories confirm the fact that agricultural intensification and diversification is technology-dependent. Therefore, technology-led agricultural growth will result in food and nutritional security as well as environmental sustainability. It tends to limit area expansion through slash-and-burn and shifting cultivation. The generation of technology for intensive agriculture takes approximately 10 years of research in crops, and 15-20 years in livestock (Eicher, 1993). Therefore, effective and sustainable African agricultural technology systems require continued government and donor support over a reasonable length of time.
Modernizing agriculture Africa must revitalize and modernize its agriculture in order to sustainably achieve economic growth, food security, poverty alleviation, environmental protection, and equity. To cope with the increasing population and urbanization, the continent must attain sustainable agricultural growth of at least 4% annually by increasing productivity. The strategy to achieve the earlier-mentioned goals, have several important components that need to converge. Sustainable growth in agriculture, as indicated in Figure 6, requires the following strategic interventions:
The harmonization and articulation of these components require strong political will, detailed and focused planning and the commitment of resources. This requires the joint participation of both the public and the private sector (including the agricultural community), on the basis of their specific comparative advantages.
REFERENCES
Copyright © Quest and Insight Publishers and Friends-of-the Book Foundation, 2001 The following images related to this document are available:Photo images[fn01005t5.jpg] [fn01005f2.jpg] [fn01005f4.jpg] [fn01005f3.jpg] [fn01005f6.jpg] [fn01005t3.jpg] [fn01005f5.jpg] [fn01005t2.jpg] [fn01005t4.jpg] [fn01005f1.jpg] [fn01005t1.jpg] |
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