Achieving greater impacts for agricultural research and
innovations on the poor in Africa
Keynote speech delivered by Dr Akinwumi Adesina, Vice President, Alliance for a Green
Revolution in Africa (AGRA), at Food Security, Health and Impact Knowledge Brokering
Conference, 22-24th June, Leeds, United Kingdom
1. Ladies and gentlemen, good morning. I thank David Howlett and the University of Leeds for
inviting me to speak at this important conference. It is a great pleasure to be with you all on
this beautiful campus. I will be sharing with you this morning my thoughts on how to achieve
greater impacts for agricultural research and innovations on the poor in Africa.
2. The world witnessed a dramatic increase in global food prices in 2007-2008, the largest
increase in decades. FAO index of food prices rose by 9 % in 2006, 23% in 2007 and 54% in
2008. The total food import bill globally in 2008, estimated at $1,035 billion, exceeded that of
2007 by an estimated $ 215 billion. The total number of people living on less than $1.25 per
day swelled by an additional 75 million in 2008.
3. Across Africa the rising price of basic foods led to food riots. The poor suffered
disproportionately, reducing caloric intake, shifting to lower cost and less nutritious foods,
food rationing, including skipping meals.
4. The root cause of the food problem in Africa is deeply structural: low agricultural
productivity. Total factor productivity of agriculture has been low in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Between 1992 and 2003, total factor productivity in East Africa was a mere 0.4%, while West
and Southern Africa averaged 1.6% and 1.3%, respectively. These rates do not keep up with
the rate of population growth and calls for greater investments to raise agricultural
productivity.
5. The International Food Policy Research Institute has shown that doubling investments in
research and development in Sub-Saharan Africa will lift an estimated 144 million people out
of poverty.
6. Today, another global food crisis looms. Food prices have risen again in 2011. Africa, which
already spends over $50 billion annually on food imports, will need to spend more. As it does,
it will simply be importing food inflation from global markets.
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7. So if those events of a couple of years ago brought clarity and focus to the challenge and
solution, the events of today bring a renewed urgency for action. We must translate research
and innovations into impacts on farmers’ fields. And we must do this at scale that can drive
down hunger and poverty.
8. Africa has the potential. We are blessed with abundant natural resources – twelve times the
land area of India and less than two thirds as many people to feed. If Africa were to double
its average cereal yield from one to two tons per hectare that would lead to an extra 100
million tons a year of cereals. This is enough, alone, to shift Africa from a food deficit to a
major food surplus region.
9. But we must act quickly. As Dr Norman Borlaug once said “you cannot eat potential.” For
Africa to solve its food problems it must get six things right: technologies, policies, markets,
political will, financing and infrastructure.
10. The solution has its roots in Asia, an area a Nobel Prize economist once called a “basket
case.” But the Asian countries proved the world wrong by rapidly raising agricultural
productivity, with the development and release of the high yielding varieties of rice and wheat
which more than doubled or tripled yields. They invested heavily in irrigation and expanded
investments in extension and research and development.
11. They did more. They knew that if farmers produced and could not sell their produce they
would lose incentives to adopt new technologies. They put in place price support systems
with guaranteed minimum prices. Farmers were provided with access to credit.
12. The results were dramatic. The area cultivated to the high yielding varieties rapidly rose from
zero % in 1965 to almost 60% thirty years later. New wheat crop varieties spread rapidly from
less than 2% of cultivated area in 1965 to 90% in 1995.
13. This investment in agriculture fed the continent’s growing population and set the foundation
for manufacturing and services, and decades of economic growth, employment and rising
incomes.
14. The Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) is working actively with national
governments, development partners, civil society and farmers to drive a similar yet unique
green revolution in Africa, tackling the challenges of degraded lands, lack of good seed,
functioning markets, credit and favourable policies.
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15. This is a home-grown green revolution. It is driven by Africans themselves. It is focused on
smallholder farmers – the majority of who are women. It is focused on staple food crops,
while respecting cultural diversity and agro-ecological differences between regions and
countries. It is also focused on technological change, which is vital to feed Africa. All of these
must be done in environmentally sustainable manner.
16. We have the technologies. The New Rice for Africa (NERICA) holds promise for millions of
smallholder rice farmers and is already achieving impressive results in several countries. New
cassava varieties and processing technologies hold potential for creating rural employment for
millions of farmers. New drought-tolerant maize varieties that reduce the risk and
vulnerabilities faced by farmers exist. New varieties of sorghum now exist that can raise and
stabilize yields. Biological control technologies for pests and diseases have been developed
by national and international agricultural research centres.
17. The main challenge in Africa, today, is turning all these potential into impact. Africa lacks the
appropriate policies to drive change to scale.
18. Asia not only got the technologies right, they also got the policies right. Their green
revolution fed over 1 billion people, lowered the price of food for the urban and rural poor,
created employment, and spurred the rapid economic growth across Asia.
19. By contrast, the policy support systems for farmers are broken in Africa. The structural
adjustment programs of the 1980s put Africa backwards by at least three decades. They
dismantled institutions and support systems for farmers. Today, a majority of farmers do not
have access to functioning extension systems, affordable credit, stable prices or markets. As a
result, less than 5% of farmers use improved varieties of maize and fertilizer use averages 8
kilograms per hectare.
20. Africa can learn from China, which used home-grown policies to drive technical change. In
1976, China developed the hybrid rice seed technology. It spread rapidly due to a favourable
policy and institutional support. Area cultivated increased from 140,000 ha in 1976 to over 15
million hectares in 1990, reaching 19 million hectares by 2008. The government mobilized
large number of seed producers to multiply the seed, setting in motion a rapid uptake of the
hybrid rice. The government promoted the system – from seeds to finance to marketing.
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21. For this to happen across Africa, governments must also get the policies right. Governments
should liberalize the production of foundation seed and allow private seed companies to
produce their own foundation seeds. This will revolutionize the seed sector. Seed companies
also need access to affordable financing – both equity and debt- for processing plants and
working capital.
22. Policies should also promote access of farmers to seeds and fertilizers in rural areas and build
on the revolution now underway now in rural markets. Rural farm input shops called agrodealers are now making farm inputs available to farmers on time, in small affordable sizes
and at prices they can afford.
23. AGRA has over 15,000 agro-dealers in several countries. They have sold over 374,000 tons
of improved seeds and about 770,000 tons of fertilizers in rural areas. They have secured
about $45 million in loans from banks. Farmers can now get seeds and fertilizers close to
their fields, producing more at a lower cost.
24. As farmers’ production increases, they also need better access to markets. Over 50% of what
Africa produces is lost due to poor storage. Development of farm level storage technologies
and warehouse receipt systems will further make it possible for farmers to reduce storage
losses and stabilize prices. They can use their grains as collateral for credit, and stimulate
incentives for further uptake of new agricultural technologies and innovations.
25. Commodity exchanges in Africa, from Malawi, Kenya to Ethiopia are already opening up
greater opportunities for regional trade, reducing price volatility and market transaction costs
for farmers. The World Food Program’s Purchase for Progress program is already providing
market access and guaranteed prices for farmers in several countries in Africa.
26. We must scale up these successful experiences. This will require greater political commitment
by national governments to a small farm growth agenda, and the creation of an enabling
economic environment: good policies, rural infrastructure, and more proficient public
institutions that serve agriculture.
27. The most important enabler is political will. We have seen this in Ethiopia’s agricultural
transformation, “Kilimo Kwanza” (Agriculture First) in Tanzania, and the significant
agricultural turnaround in Rwanda.
28. Ladies and gentlemen, the resources needed to fulfil Africa’s green revolution are enormous.
We cannot invest everywhere. So we must focus on areas with high potential, where faster
gains can be made that will drive down the cost of food. While we must also pay attention to
low potential areas, we cannot solve all problems at the same time.
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29. This is why AGRA is focusing its resources in breadbasket areas – areas with good
agricultural potential, infrastructure and markets. National governments, donors and private
sectors are now investing in breadbaskets in Ghana, Mali, Tanzania, Mozambique, and
Ethiopia.
30. But more funding is needed to take things to scale. During the Asian green revolution Robert
McNamara, then President of the World Bank, said to Dr Borlaug: “if you can get me these
high yields, I will find you the money to scale up.”
31. It seemed this was about to happen in Africa. The G8 pledged twenty billion dollars for
African agriculture at Gleneagles. Twenty four African countries pledged to devote 10
percent of their budgets to agriculture. The United States signalled a major shift with its Feed
the Future initiative. And The World Bank launched the Global Agriculture and Food
Security Program. Private donors lent considerable support. But hard times have hit several of
the donor countries and development funds are easiest to cut back. Funds have been cut, and
billions of pledged support remains unpaid.
32. Africa must learn a hard lesson: it must increasingly look within itself, and find the resources
to achieve its green revolution. It needs to think differently.
33. African economies have continued to post strong economic growth rates over the past five
years. Africa’s GDP rose from $461 billion in 1970 to $1.6 trillion in 2008. Between 2005
and 2008, real GDP growth rates grew by between 5.5-5.6% annually. Agricultural output in
Africa could potentially rise fourfold – from the current level of $280 billion per year to $880
billion – by 2030.
34. Despite the recent global economic crisis, the economies of Africa are projected to grow by
an average of 5.5% into the near future. The implication is clear: there exists significant
amount of excess liquidity today on the balance sheets of the banks and other financial
institutions in Africa. This excess liquidity needs to be harnessed and leveraged for use in
agricultural sector.
35. The challenge is serious, as less than 1% of total lending by commercial banks in Africa goes
into agriculture. Banks don’t lend because of perceived high risks, poorly coordinated
agricultural value chains and poor infrastructure in the agricultural sector. What needs to be
done is to leverage the excess liquidity in the banks to agricultural value chains.
36. To achieve the green revolution at scale there needs to be a financial revolution for
agriculture. And that, too, is already on its way.
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37. AGRA is spearheading the use of risk-sharing instruments so that banks will invest more in
agriculture. To date, AGRA and its partners (Millennium Challenge Corporation, IFAD and
Kilimo Trust ) have leveraged $170 million in new affordable financing from commercial
banks in Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Mozambique.
38. Equity Bank in Kenya has so far lent $20 million to 40,000 farmers, with 70% of this going to
small farmers. In Uganda, KACOFA farmers group got a loan of $1.5 million from Stanbic
Bank which they used to produce 30,000 tons of maize, making them the largest producer of
maize in Mbale district. They now account for 50% of the districts maize production. In
Tanzania, the National Microfinance Bank has lent $ 8.5 million to agro dealers, making
agricultural inputs available in rural areas at lower costs.
39. AGRA has just partnered with the Central Bank of Nigeria on a $500 million risk sharing
facility that will leverage $3 billion in agricultural lending from banks in Nigeria – the largest
effort in Africa. This will make loans available to 3.8 million farmers, impacting some 20
million people.
40. AGRA and several partners are now working to take these initiatives to scale and leverage at
least another $ 5 billion from banks in 15 African countries into agricultural value chains.
41. But these opportunities come with new challenges. If rains fail, farmers face high risks to pay
their loans back. Climate change poses great challenge for the green revolution, increasing
vulnerability for small farmers.
42. While African farmers did not cause climate change they now bear the brunt of it.
Accelerated efforts are needed to develop and spread heat tolerant and drought resistant
varieties, and water use efficient crops. We must get more crop-per-drop. We must push the
frontiers of agricultural sciences, with new tools, especially biotechnology.
43. We must invest in water harvesting and irrigation. And we must scale up weather index crop
insurance to reach millions of farmers. To do this, governments should support the initial high
costs of insurance premiums for farmers. Current funds set aside for disaster payments could
be used to support uptake of weather index insurance products. We cannot abandon farmers.
44. Malawi did not abandon its farmers and it reaped impressive impacts. It provided subsidies
for seeds and fertilizers. It proved the sceptics wrong and showed that poor smallholder
farmers can feed Africa. For the past five years, Malawi has become food self-sufficient and a
net exporter of food to neighbouring countries.
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45. The ripple effects are influencing at least ten other countries to launch subsidy programs for
farmers, including in Ghana, Zambia, Nigeria, Rwanda and Tanzania.
46. But this trend must remain focused on smallholder farmers, especially women, as they
represent the majority of the farming population. Large farms, while needed, will not solve
Africa’s food problems.
47. African smallholder farmers are not different from those in other parts of the world. They are
just not supported in the way farmers are in the United States and Europe. So, while some
contend that the Malawi government spent over 42% of its agricultural budget on subsidies,
claiming that this is not sustainable, what they did not say is that the EU spends 42% of its
entire budget on subsidies for its farmers.
48. We must replace policies of abandonment of farmers in Africa with policies of
comprehensive support to achieve the green revolution. There can be no half measures. But
we also need balance and support investments in rural agricultural infrastructure, especially
rural roads, irrigation, research and development and agricultural extension. Without these,
the impacts of agricultural research and innovation will be minimal.
49. We also need a fundamental paradigm shift. Agriculture is not a development program. We
must treat agriculture as a business. It should be supported and financed as such if it is to pull
tens of millions out of poverty in a sustained way. That means we must increasingly focus on
agricultural value chains.
50. African countries should also focus on massive infrastructure support in their breadbasket
areas, expand production from their growth corridors, and use the surplus production to trade
with investor nations. The benefits will be many: create local jobs, assure food security, drive
down the price of food and generate foreign exchange from a more productive, efficient and
competitive agricultural system.
51. Today, as Africa grapples with how to feed its people, we must be encouraged and take pride
in the progress made to date. We must build on the emerging success of the African Green
Revolution.
52. A green revolution is occurring. Agricultural research and innovations are achieving good
results. You can see it in the fields. Farmers are achieving yields of over three-tons per
hectare. The shackles of hunger are being broken, plot by plot, store by store and village by
village. This is being achieved by removing the shackles on our farmers – the very people on
whom Africa’s food security depends.
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53. What started as an accelerated evolution is now turning into a revolution. We must now
rapidly scale up these successes for the impacts of agricultural research and innovations to be
fully achieved on the lives of the poor. When our barns are filled with plenty, Africa’s
children will be well fed, and they will dance in our fields. The lost three decades would be
forgotten. And our freedom would be truly complete!
Thank you very much.
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