The African continent continues to face a food crisis that was amplified by the recent food and financial crises. This situation reflects a long-term structural problem: poor performance of the agricultural sector, especially the low agricultural productivity for the staple food crops. Africa has some of the lowest levels of cereal yields and labor productivities and these have barely changed in 30 years. The continent has declining per capita agricultural output levels, especially of staple foods; it has some of the lowest chemical fertilizer use rates, with serious nutrient mining and declining soil fertility; and is losing world market shares for all its traditional export crops (World Bank, 2007). While yield gains have been made in more recent times they still fall way below what is needed to feed the rapidly growing population.
Paradoxically, there is enormous potential for agricultural growth in Africa. The continent has abundant arable land (e.g., it has twelve times the land area of India and only half as many people to feed). With few exceptions, the distribution of land is still equitable by international standards and small farms dominate the continent. A rapidly growing labor force (despite HIV/AIDS) suggests a growing scope for adopting higher-yielding crops, as well as more labor-intensive technologies and farming systems. Rapid growth in population means that domestic and regional markets for staple food crops offer huge opportunities to help stimulate agricultural growth. Estimates from the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) show that the size of the staple food crops sector is much larger (estimated at around $150 billion) compared to traditional and nontraditional export crops (estimated at around $16 billion).
The current food crisis and the associated growth in global demand for biofuels offer Africa an important growth opportunity (ECA/AU, 2009). World food prices are already falling from their 2008 peak but are not expected to return to their low and declining pre-crisis levels. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and FAO expect world food prices to stabilize at about 30–40% higher than before, which, while providing some welcome relief to the poor, will also make agricultural investments more attractive than before. The challenge is whether African farmers will be able to achieve significant supply response to take advantage of the new opportunities offered by the changing global landscape for food.
The main objective of this article is to review the situation of food production in Africa and some of the conditioning factors that have implications for global development policies. The article discusses the changing domestic and global landscapes of agriculture that are currently impacting African agriculture, including global development finance, domestic support to agriculture, inequity in global policies of support for agriculture, foreign direct investments, “land grabs,” climate change, and the evolving carbon markets. The article ends with concluding remarks on how to better shape global development policies to enable African agriculture to play its role in helping to feed itself and the rest of the world.
The African continent continues to face a food crisis that was amplified by the recent food and financial crises. This situation reflects a long-term structural problem: poor performance of the agricultural sector, especially the low agricultural productivity for the staple food crops. Africa has some of the lowest levels of cereal yields and labor productivities and these have barely changed in 30 years. The continent has declining per capita agricultural output levels, especially of staple foods; it has some of the lowest chemical fertilizer use rates, with serious nutrient mining and declining soil fertility; and is losing world market shares for all its traditional export crops (World Bank, 2007). While yield gains have been made in more recent times they still fall way below what is needed to feed the rapidly growing population.Paradoxically, there is enormous potential for agricultural growth in Africa. The continent has abundant arable land (e.g., it has twelve times the land area of India and only half as many people to feed). With few exceptions, the distribution of land is still equitable by international standards and small farms dominate the continent. A rapidly growing labor force (despite HIV/AIDS) suggests a growing scope for adopting higher-yielding crops, as well as more labor-intensive technologies and farming systems. Rapid growth in population means that domestic and regional markets for staple food crops offer huge opportunities to help stimulate agricultural growth. Estimates from the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) show that the size of the staple food crops sector is much larger (estimated at around $150 billion) compared to traditional and nontraditional export crops (estimated at around $16 billion).The current food crisis and the associated growth in global demand for biofuels offer Africa an important growth opportunity (ECA/AU, 2009). World food prices are already falling from their 2008 peak but are not expected to return to their low and declining pre-crisis levels. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and FAO expect world food prices to stabilize at about 30–40% higher than before, which, while providing some welcome relief to the poor, will also make agricultural investments more attractive than before. The challenge is whether African farmers will be able to achieve significant supply response to take advantage of the new opportunities offered by the changing global landscape for food.The main objective of this article is to review the situation of food production in Africa and some of the conditioning factors that have implications for global development policies. The article discusses the changing domestic and global landscapes of agriculture that are currently impacting African agriculture, including global development finance, domestic support to agriculture, inequity in global policies of support for agriculture, foreign direct investments, “land grabs,” climate change, and the evolving carbon markets. The article ends with concluding remarks on how to better shape global development policies to enable African agriculture to play its role in helping to feed itself and the rest of the world.
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