AGRICULTURAL SUBSIDY MUST REACH THE SMALL FARMERS(SHFs) DIRECTLY AND SUSTAINABLY IN AFRICA
AGRICULTURAL SUBSIDY MUST REACH THE SMALL FARMERS(SHFs) DIRECTLY AND SUSTAINABLY IN AFRICA AT THIS TIME: WITH COVID-19, RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR AND INSECURITY SHOCKS.
The vulnerability of Africa’s economy due to the various shocks posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, Russia-Ukraine War and insecurity can only be mitigated by the evolution of an efficient “Africa food system”!
All countries in Africa must commit to sizeable investments in Agriculture to bolster their food systems to avert further stresses and challenges of food and physical insecurity pervading the entire continent.
The SHFs are the engine room of production in Agriculture in Africa but with the low level of mechanization currently they must therefore be directly subsidized to attain a reasonable level of food sufficiency in the entire continent.
The AfCFTA initiative is germane to Africa’s prosperity if the right kind of strategies are judiciously deployed in its implementation.
All countries in the continent should create the requisite synergy among themselves by optimizing productivity, processing,storage, distribution and consumption of food to evolve a veritable food system.
Learn MoreIt is our ethos to be our brothers’ and sisters’ keeper in Africa so it must be taken to its full potential by creating a United States of Africa by revamping the AU in such away that it is given teeth to bite hard enough to make the leadership question in all African countries more transparent and focused.
There are several innovations in Agriculture aside from mechanization and value addition such as climate smart Agriculture,the sustainable deployment of Agricultural Biotechnology as well as all year round Agricultural production to make Africa the “Food Continent” of the globe especially leveraging on its large cultivable land and nearly 60% youth population.
The COVID-19 pandemic has taught the entire world the need to be self sufficient in food, medicine and almost every facet of life so shocks such as the
Russia-Ukraine war should serve as a wake up call to Africa if we really want the continent to become sustainably competitive and prosperous.
In Nigeria we have put in place several initiatives such as the CBN Anchor Borrower Initiative,the Agriculture Promotion Policy, Presidential Fertilizer Initiative, Integrated Farm Initiatives by NALDA(National Agricultural Land Development Agency), National Livestock Transformation Plans (NLTP), Farmer Data Capture,Social Safety Nets, National Food Reserve Agency,Seed, Fertilizer and Soil Acts to give impetus to a veritable food system but the implementation has not been satisfactory and need to be sustained beyond the life of this administration to be impactful in the Agricultural Transformation of Nigeria’s economy and in the last analysis Africa’s economy!
Arc Kabir Ibrahim FNIA,
National President,
All farmers Association of Nigeria(AFAN).
For more information and updates join our WhatsApp group HERE
Follow us on Twitter Here
-Advertisement-
We do everything possible to supply quality information for farmers day in, day out and we are committed to keep doing this.
Your kind donation will help our continuous research efforts.
