ExodusMagMar2018

X
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DOING BUSINESS IN
A F R I C A
There is no recorded case in history where a
country was able to undertake a successful
industrial revolution, without first undertaking a
successful agricultural revolution.
It’s important that there must be food to enable
people to think of other things rather than the
next meal, in order for them to focus on other
things. Unless African countries undertake a
serious policy formulation and implementation
of an agricultural revolution, it is impossible
that they can industrialise. This explains why
only 2 countries in Africa have undertaken a
successful industrial revolution, South Africa
and Zimbabwe. It is also important that we note
that as soon as Zimbabwe lost its food security
due to drought and ill thought out land reform
policy, the country started deindustrialising and
at a very high rate. It’s also important to note
that South Africa has never abandoned its
policy of food security. It is completely self sufficient
when it comes to food production.
What is very interesting about South Africa is
that only 15% of its land is arable, and only 3%
is prime land. The majority of it is not arable,
and yet it can still feed itself. South Africa’s
ability to feed itself has been its intensive and
extensive investment in research and development
in the area of agriculture (agri-sector).
In Zimbabwe, about 60% of the land is arable.
But out of the 7 climatic regions in Zimbabwe,
only 3 have regular rains, and only 9% of
prime land is agriculture. The reason why it was
the bread basket of Southern Africa, was
because of its intensity in research and development
in the agricultural sector under the
Smith administration. His government was a
government of farmers who ensured that every
province had its own research station. The challenge
for Zimbabwe to be able to exploit its agricultural
potential, is that it must provide irrigation
as the centre piece of its agriculture. It must
also review its ill thought out land reform policy
with a focus of giving the productive small scale
farmers access to prime land in regions 1, 2
and 3, as they are the most productive.
If you take Mozambique, Zambia and DRC,
over 80% of their land is arable and they have
regular rainfall. DRC has rains throughout the
year. The problem in other parts of Africa is
that they can only farm for 4 months. With DRC
who can form all year round, because of the
French colonisation they are not interested in
farming. The French exported their culture of
limited work to their colonies and that has
caused problems.
Also if you take your most productive agricultural
country Uganda, you will notice that they
do not have commercial farmers. Yet it has become
the 6 th leading country in the production
of flowers in the world. That is important because
flower production requires an optimum
acreage of 4 to 5 hectors, and the return is US$
2.2 million. The importance of flowers is that,
you can farm them throughout the year, even if
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Exodus Christian Magazine // March 2018