Agribusiness to make exploits

African farmers and the agribusiness sector could
create a trillion-dollar food market by 2030 if they
could access more capital and electricity, better
technology and irrigated land, according to a
World Bank report released in March 2013.
For this goal to be achieved, governments and
business leaders in sub-Saharan Africa must
place agriculture and agribusiness at the top of
the development and business agenda, the report
states.
The International Fund for Agricultural
Development (IFAD), the UN agency dedicated to
poverty eradication in developing countries, called
in 2011 for policy innovations and more
investments in agriculture and agribusinesses.
Makhtar Diop, the World Bank's vice-president for
the Africa region, says, "The time has come for
making African agriculture and agribusiness a
catalyst for ending poverty."
In addition to untapped water resources, Africa
has more than half of the world's fertile and
unused land, notes the World Bank, but warns
that land allocations for agribusiness have to be
carefully carried out.
In 2011 the Oakland Institute, a US-based think
tank, reported unfair land deals in South Sudan,
under which foreign companies bought up fertile
and mostly uncultivated land. Such deals did not
clarify land tenure and usage, and worse, even
threatened the land rights of rural communities.
The World Bank notes that Africa spends $3.5
billion per year on rice importation. With the right
incentives many countries could produce enough
rice for domestic consumption.
Senegalese farmers, for example, experience
difficulties in accessing land, capital, finance for
irrigation expansion and appropriate crop
varieties. They could produce more rice if not
held back by these difficulties.
Ten years ago the New Partnership for Africa's
Development (NEPAD) launched the
Comprehensive African Agriculture Development
Programme (CAADP) "to eliminate hunger and
reduce poverty through agriculture" by
encouraging African countries to invest at least
10% of their national budgets in agriculture.
Strong leadership and commitment from both
public and private sectors is critical to increased
agricultural production, many analysts believe.
"Transforming agriculture in Africa is not simply
about helping Africa; it is essential for ensuring
global food security," maintains the World Bank.