AFRICA AGRICULTURE STATUS REPORT 2016

While agricultural research generates, analyzes, and uses
data, information, knowledge and innovation to support
agriculture productivity, this knowledge and innovation
should be translated and interpreted for use by smallholder
farmers in Africa. Studies show that economic returns to
investment in AAS range from 50 to 80 percent. There is
also robust evidence from the other areas to show that
agricultural extension improves crop yields and quality,
improving smallholder livelihoods and reducing production
risks. The current situation in SSA is that smallholder
farmers have limited access to AAS. Public support and
private extension services are being evolved into innovative
approaches and are helping bridge the supply and demand
mismatch in AAS.
Progress towards Africa’s agricultural transformation
requires an efficient and effective agricultural research
system and robust agricultural advisory or extension
services. Many organizations and institutions are currently
engaged in capacity building initiatives to support such
systems and services, but the continent needs a unified
framework that works in our context and culture. Agricultural
research systems, AAS and capacity development
initiatives that will address the needs and aspirations of
smallholder farmers and African agribusinesses should: be
able to deliver poverty-alleviating technology along specific
value chains in many SSA countries; be knowledge-driven
by conscious investments in and application of science;
come up with innovative funding mechanisms away from
the traditional donor-dependence; and use an effective
innovative approaches.
The Road Ahead and Next Steps
Even under the most optimistic projections, non-farm wage
jobs in SSA will be able to absorb only half of the additional
350 million workers estimated to enter the labor force
before 2035. This means that, for at least the next several
decades, agriculture will be called upon to provide gainful
employment for at least a third of young Africans entering
the labor force. However, agriculture will be unattractive
to young people unless it can earn a decent livelihood. To
achieve this, farming must become more productive and
innovative, benefiting from science and research, as in
most of the rest of the world. Moreover, profitable farming
requires access to more land. In some parts of Africa, land
scarcity is becoming a major problem, exacerbated in
some cases by government policies toward the transfer of
land to domestic and foreign investors.
Countries such as Japan and South Korea, which now
rely on manufacturing and technology-driven service
economies, were predominantly smallholder farming
societies 60 years ago. Through good policies and
public investments in infrastructure, agricultural research
breakthroughs, and extension services to help farmers
benefit from new technologies, smallholder farmers in
these countries increased their productivity and incomes,
thereby supporting the demand for non-farm businesses
and the growth of employment opportunities off the farm.
Over time, most smallholder farmers eventually moved into
these non-farm jobs.
Africa’s transformation from a primarily semi-subsistence,
small-scale agrarian economy to a more diversified and
productive economy will still require unwavering support
to African smallholder farmers so that they are able to
participate in and contribute fully to the region’s economic
transition. While migration from farm to non-farm sectors,
and from rural to urban areas will provide the brightest
prospects for the transformation and modernization of
Africa’s economies, it will happen only as fast as educational
advances and growth in the non-farm job opportunities
allow. The rate of growth of non-farm jobs in turn depends
on the rate of income growth among the millions of families
still engaged in smallholder agriculture. Thus, there is
a symbiotic relationship between inclusive agricultural
growth, non-farm growth, and poverty reduction.
Inclusive agricultural growth is needed to facilitate broader
economic transformation and poverty reduction objectives.
Therefore continuous investment in areas that contribute
to inclusive agricultural growth such as agricultural
R&D, innovative ways of disseminating improved farm
management practices to smallholders (e.g., using ICTs,
smart phones, and other innovative forms of information
dissemination to rural people, and rehabilitation of public
agricultural extension programs where feasible), programs
to restore soil fertility and promote resilience in the face of
increasing climate variability, strategies to reduce transport
costs and improve farmers’ access to markets and
services, holistic approaches to nutritional improvements,
and perhaps most importantly helping young Africans to
obtain quality education and skill training are imperative
Government policies and public investment policies must
be decisive, as these will determine the incentives and
scope for investment by the private sector. These policies
will largely determine whether the region’s economic
transformation is a relatively smooth, robust, and peaceful
process, ohr a painful and protracted one.
Currently, SSA is making progress towards agricultural
transformation. The progress is uniquely African and
it is putting smallholder farmers first while protecting
biodiversity, promoting sustainability and advancing equity.
The progress is towards a food secure and prosperous
Africa. The core of the transformation is a system that is
256 AFRICA AGRICULTURE STATUS REPORT 2016