Can Agriculture Change The Story Of Africa?

CAN AGRICULTURE CHANGE AFRICA'S STORY

(PART 1)

The constant jump in the prices of cocoa in the last few months have been a major worry for more than 700,000 farmers located in the lush green forest of Ghana who depend on this cash crop to feed themselves and provide education and health to their families. But the inadequate capacity of Ghana to add value to a large quantity of its cocoa is even more a bigger issue.

This problem is not only typical of Ghana; other countries in sub-Saharan Africa face the same problem. This has put the future of chocolate production at great risk. Demand for cocoa is predicted to rise by 30% by 2020, but without empowering and investing in small-scale farmers, the industry will struggle to provide sufficient supply. Agribusiness plays a vital role in economic development, contributing a major portion of GDP, employment, and foreign exchange earnings in many developing countries. This is particularly true in Africa, where agriculture accounts for 25% of the continents GDP, and 70% of employment.

Despite its importance, sub-Saharan Africa’s agribusiness sector faces numerous challenges. In many countries, most crops are produced by small – sized farms with limited mechanization and capacity, leading to poor yields.

Fragmented markets, price control and poor infrastructure also add up to poor yields. Many of the agricultural products produced in the region, such as maize, oil palm, rice etc are not competitive globally or have low profit margins. This indicates that sub-Sahara Africa is ill equipped to meet its food requirements which are set to double pretty soon.