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Growing Africa's Agriculture

Breadbasket Development Key to Achieving African Food Security and Avoiding Future Global Food Crisis

Kofi Annan, AGRA Present New Strategy Amidst Debate on Africa's Role as Global Breadbasket at World Economic Forum

Cape Town, South Africa (11 June 2009)--Mr. Kofi A. Annan, Chair of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), today called for the development of key African breadbaskets that would produce food surpluses of staple African food crops. He called for marshalling resources in areas of Africa ripe for agricultural growth, and doing so in ways that benefit smallholder farmers as the best strategy for ending hunger faced by 40 percent of the continent's population.

"By focusing on breadbaskets, we will reverse decades of rising hunger and move forward to a food secure and prosperous Africa," said Annan, former Secretary-General of the United Nations, addressing government leaders and CEOs at the plenary session of the World Economic Forum (WEF) on Africa. Two years after assuming chairmanship of AGRA, Annan highlighted aspects of its new strategy. AGRA is a partnership-based African organization that aims to achieve rapid, sustainable agricultural growth based on smallholder farmers and comprehensive change across the agricultural system. Smallholder farmers, the majority women, produce most of the continent's food, but with minimal resources and government support. This has meant low yields, over-reliance on food imports and food aid, and entrenched poverty.

AGRA's new 10-year strategy focuses on marshalling investments and partnerships to develop breadbasket areas, initially in Ghana, Mali, Mozambique and Tanzania. It will simultaneously invest in another nine countries, including Kenya, Ethiopia and Uganda, setting the basis for future breadbasket development.

Breadbasket for the World?

"The rush for land by outside players is more proof of the enormous potential of African agriculture. Africa itself must harness this potential," Annan said. "One-off land deals will solve neither Africa's food crisis nor the long-term threats to global food security. Africa's breadbaskets must be developed in ways that benefit the continent's major food producers -- smallholder farmers. That is the surest route to feeding the continent and producing for export."

AGRA Vice President Dr. Akin Adesina noted that foreign land deals offer both opportunities and risks. "If arrangements are transparent and inclusive of smallholder farmers, if they deliver know-how and farm inputs and help develop infrastructure, they could contribute to Africa's growth," Adesina said. "But, clearly, Africa cannot afford to give away its best lands. It is not time for a 'going-out-of-business sale.' It is time for partners to sign up to help build a prosperous new Africa."

An Integrated Approach to Filling Africa's Breadbaskets

"Rapidly improving farmers' access to good seeds, fertilizers, and soil and water management in breadbaskets will lead to food surpluses," said Dr. Namanga Ngongi, President of AGRA. "At the same time, supportive government policies and partnerships to build infrastructure will serve to connect farmers with markets, reduce reliance on food imports and launch a new trajectory of sustainable growth."

African breadbaskets are areas with high agricultural potential by virtue of their relatively good rainfall, soils, infrastructure and markets; large numbers of smallholder farmers; and governments that are committed to agricultural development, according to AGRA. They differ, however, from many breadbaskets in other parts of the world that focus on vast monocrops. Instead, AGRA is focusing its efforts to correspond with Africa's diverse agro-ecologies and multiplicity of crops.

In Northern Ghana, for example, tens of thousands of smallholder farmers grow a variety of crops, including rice, maize, cowpea, groundnuts and sorghum. The region is considered Ghana's breadbasket and contains over 40 percent of its agricultural land. The Ghanaian government has identified agriculture as the most important driver for poverty alleviation.

Some elements of an integrated approach to breadbasket growth would involve strengthening agro-dealer networks and farmer organizations to increase access to affordable quality seeds and fertilizers; improving farmers' knowledge of integrated soil fertility management; strengthening farmers' opportunities to add value through agro-processing and their access to affordable financing from commercial banks.

AGRA's Early Accomplishments

During a side event at WEF, AGRA will report on important progress made during its first two-and-a-half years. Since 2006, AGRA has forged a series of groundbreaking partnerships with African and global institutions and launched four integrated programs that address key challenges, spanning seeds, soils, market access and policies, and a cross-cutting program on Innovative Financing. Among the results to date:

  • An innovative financing program has used $17 million in loan guarantee funds to leverage $160 million in affordable loans from commercial banks for smallholder farmers, agro-dealers and small- and medium-sized African agricultural enterprises.
  • AGRA's agro-dealers program is strengthening national networks of agro-dealers in 11 countries. Their small farm input shops get quality seeds and fertilizers to farmers in remote areas. In Kenya, Malawi, Tanzania, and Zambia 4,400 agro-dealers have been trained. In parts of Western Kenya served by the program, maize productivity has increased by 115 percent, and the distance farmers must travel to buy precious farm inputs like good seeds has been cut from 17km to 4km.
  • In the area of seed development, AGRA's funding of farmer-participatory crop breeding has led to the release of 68 locally adapted varieties of crops such as cassava, bean, sorghum, and maize. Many incorporate traits from varieties developed by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) and Africa's national research organizations, along with farmers' own traditional varieties. AGRA's support of 24 small- and medium-sized seed companies and cooperatives has lead to a near doubling of their seed production in two years.*
  • Annan noted that while each of these accomplishments is significant on its own, it is through their focused integration that they will have the greatest impact.

*For a complete summary of AGRA's early accomplishments, please visit, http://www.agra-alliance.org/section/about/reports and download: "AGRA: Early Accomplishments, Foundations for Growth".

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About the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA)
AGRA is a dynamic partnership working across the African continent to help millions of small-scale farmers and their families lift themselves out of poverty and hunger. AGRA programmes develop practical solutions to significantly boost farm productivity and incomes for the poor while safeguarding the environment. AGRA advocates for policies that support its work across all key aspects of the African agricultural value chain ­from seeds, soil health and water to markets and agricultural education.

AGRA's Board of Directors is chaired by Kofi A Annan, former Secretary-General of the United Nations. Dr Namanga Ngongi, former Deputy Executive Director of the World Food Programme, is AGRA's president. With support from The Rockefeller Foundation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the UK's Department for International Development and other donors, AGRA works across sub-Saharan Africa and maintains offices in Nairobi, Kenya, and Accra, Ghana.