The Future of Smallholder Farming in Eastern Africa - Uganda ...

factors that explain household level variations in food security in the Lake Kyoga catchment area
and relate it to the diversity of wetlands utilization, and agricultural productivity.
3.4 Productivity
It is widely recognized that per capita productivity and food production have declined in sub-
Saharan Africa over the past 20 years. The implications of agricultural stagnation in Africa are
serious and diverse. Food insecurity (at all levels from household to national) has increased.
Africa is the only continent where the number of hungry people has increased and is projected to
increase further (World Bank, 2000; UNDP 1997). Agricultural investment overall has
stagnated 11 .
Despite its poor performance in Africa in recent years, agriculture remains the most likely source
of significant economic growth in the long term. Historical experience suggests that agricultural
growth may be a prerequisite to broad based sustained economic growth and development
(DFID, p.3). This was certainly the case in virtually all the world’s developed countries. More
contemporary experience demonstrates that, with few exceptions, overall economic growth has
been most rapid in countries that have experienced significant agricultural growth. Rapid
agricultural growth, supported by the public infrastructure investments made to promote it, has
provided a powerful motor for growth in rural non-farm economies.
Not only is agriculture essential to economic growth, but DFID (2002) contends that there is
strong evidence that agricultural growth benefits the poorest segments of the population. Strong
agricultural growth has been a feature of countries that have successfully reduced poverty such as
India, Bangladesh, Indonesia and China 12 . A recent study covering 58 developing countries
concluded that a 10 per cent increase in agricultural productivity was associated with a reduction
by 6 per cent in the proportion of people living on $1 a day 13 . For 16 sub-Saharan African
countries included in the study, there was an almost one to one relationship. No equivalent
relationship, on this scale, could be found for either manufacturing or services, whether in rural
or urban areas.
There are a number of reasons why agriculture is particularly important to growth and
development in Africa:
• Agriculture provides the primary and major source of domestic savings crucial to investment
in other sectors.
• Early industrial development is often based on the processing of agricultural products.
• The rising incomes of small farmers and agro-processors are usually spent on locally
provided goods and services. Agricultural growth generates demands for the products and
services of other poor people. The fortunes of rural traders, brick-makers, carpenters and
11 Gross capital formation in agriculture in SSA fell from 21.9% of GDP in 1980 to 16.5% in 2000.
12 Human Development Report, 1997. UNDP: New York.
13 Lin Lin et al. 2001.