Africa Can Feed Itself?

There are lots of opportunities in agriculture to turn the African continent from food-deficit to food-surplus, but all sensible commentators agree that it is smallholder agriculture particularly that deserves attention if we are to achieve this goal. Questions are: Why are smallholders still net importers of food into their homesteads? And why does 30-40% of African agriculture go to waste every year?



Better seeds, fertilizers, market information, roads, post harvest storage, local value adding, more facilitative regulations, access to credit - all these are cited as important responses and necessary to the 'green revolution'. But one fact stands out starkly: only 4% (or 6% according to some) of African agriculture is irrigated. This means that 96% is rain fed.



Rain fed means feast-famine, glut-shortage production cycles which are out of whack with demand which is constant (and indeed rising). Increasing the productivity of rain fed agriculture will compound the existing problem of 30% - 40% waste, by placing additional strain/demand on already inadequate infrastructures. Nowhere else in the agriculture world does anyone depend so heavily on rain fed production.



Asian agriculture is 43% irrigated! So why can we not apply this solution here? Some say it is because Africa is water scarce ... but it absolutely is not. Others say that it’s because irrigation is so phenomenally expensive - big schemes, large dams, small dams, other storage systems like RWH tanks do indeed cost a lot. But irrigation need not be so expensive as we have shown:



At KickStart we have developed an irrigation technology that:



* Costs less than $400 per irrigated hectare (versus $5,000 - $10,000 for conventional irrigation schemes)



* Is as conservative of water (arguably even more conservative) than micro-drip - and is less expensive per hectare and much easier to set up and use



*Only uses surface or shallow groundwater (e.g. from hand-dug wells), which is renewed/recharged every rainy season



* Is already used by over 90,000 rural families - who have invested in the technology themselves without any assistance from anyone



The technology has transformed from subsistence to profitable commercial agriculture as a result; increased productivity and incomes by typically 300% to 1200%; provided new employment to over 120,000 people in rural areas; generated over $90 million per year into local economies and can be used by between 15-20 million families in SSA (i.e. ~10% of the SSA population) because they live in places where the pump can physically work and where it makes economic sense to do so



This technology is well designed and made. The human powered pressure irrigation pump for example, is widely distributed, marketed and sold in Kenya and Tanzania and Mali. The two models - one for $100 and another for $35 are guaranteed.



Smallholder farmers themselves make the decision to invest in them. No government or NGO funds are needed. The farmers themselves have gone on to reap the benefits and make the impacts that are cited above. Currently around 2,000 smallholder farmers per month buy one of these pumps.



Rural people can come out of poverty and into prosperity in as short a time as possible - using market based approaches. There is potential here for 10% of Africa's people to increase their productivity by a factor of 5 (or so) which would mean doubling current food production on the continent. And it would cost them and their governments only a very small fraction of the money that other, less effective, solutions would cost.



We need brain-fed but not rain fed agriculture to turn around the smallholder sector in Africa and transform rural people from 'liabilities' on national books of account, in permanent need of charity and relief welfare, to 'assets' who are using their skills and knowledge to add value and create wealth. It is not rocket science to do so. Just a question of looking critically at our agricultural systems and processes, and identifying where the tightest bottleneck is and removing this first, before going on to address secondary and tertiary bottlenecks.



Right now, I fear that many policies and interventions in this sector can be likened to the non-solution to traffic congestion we are witnessing along Nairobi's Mombasa road. By widening and smoothing this road, as they have done, a whole lot more cars can get a lot more quickly to the Nyayo stadium roundabout and get stuck there, so we now get a 2km long, 4 lane wide, jam instead of a 4 km long, 2 lane wide, jam. The net effect is zero.



By Nick Moon,

Co-Founder; Managing Director,

KickStart International

Driving (and Walking) In Monrovia: Not For the Faint of Courage

Monrovia, Liberia - A major challenge in any large, crowded city is simply navigating the traffic in traveling from one place to another. But that task is decidedly more complicated in a city with no traffic lights, few to no stop signs whatsoever and just a handful of traffic agents on the roads. Imagine if all the traffic signals were disconnected and stop signs removed from, say, Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn or Fordham Road in the Bronx.

That’s the case here in Monrovia, where the impact of nearly 15 years of civil strife is most easily seen and felt in the city’s traffic. For one thing, the sheer volume of the population of Liberia’s capital has soared as rural dwellers moved en masse to seek employment in Monrovia, the country’s lone big city. The population here has more than doubled since the war, with about 1.5 million people in the capital (half of Liberia’s population now lives in Monrovia) Furthermore, the war, which ended in 2003, destroyed the hydro-electric plant in Monrovia, and rebuilding it has been a slow – if steady – undertaking. At the same time, the number of motorcycles has skyrocketed with officials suggesting that they now nearly rival the number of cars here.

All of that has made driving here an enterprise that is best not left to the faint of courage. The best preparation might well be a month of test driving on an obstacle course (or even in downtown Brooklyn, for that matter). Simply driving onto the highways and streets here — and certainly seeking to make a left turn from a major road — takes a combination of boldness, pluck and sheer bravery. Pedestrians cross roads as best they can, calculating whether they amass the speed to outrace oncoming traffic. There is no traffic light to bring traffic to a halt at an intersection and rarely is there a police officer. So, crossing the street is a highly-charged, track-and-field event for pedestrians. And the presence of potholes of every size is an extenuating challenge for Monrovia’s drivers.

There is a distinctive rhythm to creeping out to enter or make a left turn from the road – it’s the driving equivalent of the school girl poising with intense focus descend into the whirl of jump-rope. “You’ve got be very watchful,” said Michael B. Cole, a 20-year-old University of Liberia student who drives his older brother’s Volvo from time to time. “I’ve been driving since I was 13, starting with my father’s car.”

Driving in Monrovia, he added, involves the utmost in concentration, because of the pedestrians, the unpredictability of the motorcycles’ bobbing and weaving, the potholes and the water that can form small lakes in the roads during Liberia’s rainy season. “You have to always watch, always watch,” he said, while blowing his horn to alert a driver who seemed to be on a collision course with Mr. Cole’s car.

And driving here at night is an altogether advanced level of challenge. With few sections of the city illuminated by street lights, averting the scampering pedestrians in the darkness can be a potentially perilous endeavor to say the least, a virtual suicide mission for those crossing by foot. On a recent event here, the streets at one junction seems even more crowded than during the daylight rush hour and pedestrians at every turn seems to narrowly avert catastrophe.

And yet, amid the motorcycle darting, the fearless pedestrians and the incessant blaring of horns, there is an abundance of courtesy that seems to prevail. Some drivers will simply stop at an intersection to allow the elderly or young children cross. It is not uncommon for a driver, seeing the desire of another to make a turn, to slow down and flash his lights, a sign of allowance to make the turn. All of it is acknowledged with the courtesy of a wave in return.

But things are due to improve, said Miekee S. Gray, the chief of traffic for the national police. “We have plans to get many more traffic signals placed in the busy intersections,” Mr. Gray said, in an interview. “Right now we just have about 150 traffic officers on duty during the course of the day. In two years, I think you will see a big difference in the traffic in Monrovia.”

For one thing, he said that the increase in traffic signals will make it possible to reduce the number of traffic agents on the streets, freeing them to do other police activities. He said there are also plans to set up video monitoring systems that will enable the police to watch traffic around Monrovia from a command center and dispatch agents as necessary. Also, the police will conduct widespread training to better acquaint drivers with standard international traffic signs.

Also, Mr. Gray said, police officers have cracked down on enforcing seat belt regulations so intensely that most drivers now understand the importance of wearing them. And the department plans more public awareness campaigns, he said. “We are making progress and we will be making a lot more progress in the next few years,” he said. “You'll see street lights in bigger numbers and a better flow of traffic” (To be completely accurate, there is one functioning traffic signal here now, at the Port of Liberia).

In the meantime, drivers have to make the best with conditions. “I think things will get better in time,” Mr. Cole said. “It’s a pain driving in the city. But you have to make the best of it for now.”

By Jonathan P. Hicks

Amaranth

One of the things we will look at in the future is introducing where applicable, new varieties of food and fodder.

This project in Uganda can be duplicated in other parts of Africa?

New Year...New Gig

Happy New Year!

How's those resolutions doing? Geez...it's the ninth already and I haven't even made any.

I've thought about creating a list...so how bout making it public?

So here's my top ten list of things to work on in 2010.

1. Being a better Dad-Husband-Brother-Son-Friend- This is a challenge we all struggle with. But, being aware of this every day is my hope and desire.
2. Memorize a bible verse a week. It is what it is. This will take discipline.
3. Keep up with exercise and whole foods diet.
4. Simplify life...I'm already making strides here...need to keep the push.
5. Learn French...Oh my, this one scares the heck out of me! Let's see if I can blog in French by years end!
6. Establish a ministry...this means too many things to post here. But, let's look back at years end and see what God does here.
7. Clear out my idols closet one by one and make God the center of my life.
8. Use Time wisely-when you realize that you are about to turn fifty...time starts to matter a bit more? I'm not just talking about little things you waste time in the day, but I'm talkin about the big picture. You know each day is a gift...I'm going to try and make each day count.
9. Reading more. Watching Tv less and less frivolous internet searching...e.g. Facebook
10. Not make any promises I cannot keep. I'm one to put myself out there. I've had too many irons in the fire and it just adds unwanted stress. Can I get an amen?

Kenya: Maize Shortage to Affect Four Million Citizens

Kenya: Maize Shortage to Affect Four Million Citizens

Mark Kapchanga

3 January 2010

Nairobi — More than four million Kenyans will face an acute shortage of their staple food, maize, as early as April this year.

Egerton University's research arm -- Tegemeo Institute -- says the country's food security situation is precarious. It adds that there is a potential food crisis occasioned by erratic rains during the long rains season.

Kenya will depend heavily on neighbouring countries for maize imports.

Tegemeo maize researcher Francis Karin says the maize reserve will last up to the first quarter of 2010 only.

"From April, Kenya will have to import maize to save its people from starvation. The situation will improve only after major harvests are realised towards the end of the year in September and October," Mr Karin said.

The thinktank says the situation has been worsened by the failed El Nino rains, which many farmers had pegged their hopes on.

Continuing export bans in neighbouring Tanzania and Uganda have worsened the problem. They are likely to reduce cross-border maize inflows by approximately 46 per cent.

The Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) says other issues affecting Kenya's maize outputs include inefficient market competition, lack of enough agricultural extension systems and poor infrastructure.

Production from the long rains usually accounts for 85 per cent of the national output, which is currently estimated at 30 million bags. As a result of the intermittent rains this year, this production level is set to fall below last year's.

Estimates by Tegemeo place the long rains production at 18 million bags. This represents 65 per cent of the Ministry of Agriculture's target of 28 million bags.

Crop performance analysis by the ministry shows that the country's major production zones will record massive declines in maize production.

South Rift, Eastern and Central and North Rift Provinces have an annual crop performance rate of 50 per cent. Nyanza's lowlands recorded a 60 per cent production decline while the highlands had a 35 per cent decline. Western and Central registered 30 per cent and 70 per cent decline, respectively.

On average, out of the country's 1.3 million hectares of land under maize, only 18.2 million bags were achieved, representing an average 14.3 bags per hectare. This is 65 per cent of Kenya's target of 28 million bags.

The ministry estimates the short rains production at 6.5 million bags, with 2.6 million bags coming from Eastern province. Another 1.6 million bags is expected from Nyanza province.

This is quite optimistic. Ukambani and upper Eastern have already lost their maize crop due to the failed El Nino rains. Nyanza has not fared any better.

Copyright © 2010 The East African. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com).