AGRIPAGES GHANA

 Story culled from http://allafrica.com/stories/201404220654.html

In my opinion, are African leaders really serious about improving the welfare of their people? They talk as if they know all the problems yet do very little to solve them. What do they end up using the resources of the countries they lead for? Your guess is as good as mine. Reading this article I got so angry I thought I was going to get a heart attack because one can do very little about the situation. I share in Dr. Awiti's assertion and advice for African leaders and its advisors t to wake up!!!!! I went into Agriculture thinking I was going to make a difference but I am so disillusioned.  Hear this:-
According to President Museveni, malnutrition impairs educational achievements, undermines economic productivity and places a huge burden on Uganda's fragile public health system. The African Development Bank (AfDB) recognizes that Agriculture is vital to promoting growth and reducing poverty in Africa. As an African scholar and public intellectual, I am scandalized and my pride is deeply wounded by the unending specter of hunger and malnutrition. It is shameful, beyond measure or pardon, that fifty years with Africans at the helm, little progress has been made to guarantee every African child sufficient and nutritious food. I am sure there is enough blame to go round; the UN system and the multi-billion dollar international aid honchos are not innocent.

But, ultimately, the burden of responsibility must rest with people like me, Africa's intellectual elite. 

Here what Dr. Awiti  the director of the East Africa Institute and assistant professor at Aga Khan University, has to say:-

Is this guy for real. Has he not got the power to make a difference? so what is the difference between him and myself? if he who has more than enough power to make a difference is scandalized what are we ordinary people to say?

Stagnation of agriculture has been the defining feature of Africa's economic policy over the last four decades. Spending in agricultural research and development by African countries declined by 27 percent between 1981 and 2000. Conversely, spending in agricultural research and development rose by 30 percent in rest of the developing world; Asia and Latin America.

Egged by experts the African Union, through the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP), has set a growth target of 6% per annum for agriculture and encourages every country to allocate 10 percent of the national budget to agriculture. CAADP called for $251 billion to fund investments in irrigation, infrastructure, education and markets. Today, less than handful countries allocate 10 percent of their national budget to agriculture and critical investments in agricultural research and development lag behind other developing regions..............

Africa has a large and growing population of young people. Where will young Africans currently entering the labor force find employment? Africa has the lion's share of the world's arable land. Agriculture is uniquely positioned to absorb this young and dynamic workforce. Africa's youth dividend will not be credited automatically into the national treasury. We can harness the youth dividend by accelerating the transformative change in agriculture.

African governments and their expert advisors must wake up. There is no such thing as a dual economy in which agriculture is a passive actor - a low productivity supplier of food and a subordinate driver of national growth and economic transformation. Agriculture is the real driver of Africa's economic growth. There will be no transition to China-style labor-intensive manufacturing until agriculture is productive, efficient and profitable.

Our path to middle income and economic prosperity must be different. Africa must shun technical advisors external beholden to the antiquated linear growth models - from hunter-gatherer to agrarian to industrial to service and knowledge. Our research and academic community must re-imagine our unique path to prosperity.