In Africa of my Dream
Agriculture as a business:
On one of the lovely Saturday mornings along the
humid streets of Dhaka is when I met a wonderful gentleman whom at first we’re
both strangers to each other but later as we proceeded with our conversation,
we got to know each other. There are some strangers whom you meet and later go ahead
to matter in your life; he was one of those to me. I don’t know repeatedly
asked me how it feels to be in a foreign country where you can access your local
foods but my answering was obviously to cherish such moments. Later I realized
that if all Africans who are spread in the entire globe can access at least one
kind from each one’s local foods, our agriculture would be a highly marketable
commodity with farmers on the continent making sums of money to make these
foods reach each and every individual in need of them all over the world. A
wise man once said that a dream is that idea which will not allow you to sleep
until you fulfill it and to me since that conversation, transforming African
agriculture into a business for the people on the continent has been my dream.
The Africa of my dream is where all the abilities of
agriculture that the continent has have been fully utilized to create a way
through which our people gain wealth, develop and improve their standards of living.
It may sound too big to be fulfilled single handily but when I share this dream
with you and you share with others, we can collectively transform this great
continent into the Africa I have in my dream.
Agriculture like any other business has got
challenges especially on this continent. Unless we find solutions to these
challenges, attaining the Africa of my dream through making agriculture a
business seems impossible. Ever since I got this dream, I have been looking at
some of these challenges, how to go about them and some pilot projects on the
continent from where we can start spreading these ideas to the entire
continent.
In my home district Masaka which is part of the
central region of Uganda known for banana and coffee product in the country,
schools at every beginning of the term were expecting letters from parents
asking the head teachers of such schools to consider payment of school dues
after harvesting but in the meantime their children should stay in classes.
Sometimes it could be so unfortunate that the drought could be so long than
expected hence affecting the weight of coffee beans per bag per hectare. This
could imply that the price was to be very low per bag and so in the middle of
the term; a number of students could drop from schools because their parents
have failed to meet the school requirements due to a poor harvest.
This hasn’t been a scenario to coffee farmers in
Masaka only, but also to other crop farmers in the country, in East Africa and
the entire continent at large. Most of our farmers in the continent are at the
mercy of the prevailing weather and when natural hazards and decline in prices
of agricultural produce combine, it leaves a miserable time for our farmers.
The Africa of my dream is where farmers have accessible and affordable crop
insurance. With crop insurance, crop yield and prices of crop produce can be
managed to an extent that the damage caused does not affect the farmers so
greatly. Some countries of the sub-Saharan region for example Senegal and Gabon
in the West, Kenya and Tanzania in the East, Zimbabwe and South Africa in the
south have had pilot projects regarding crop insurance but the idea has not
been fully implemented in those countries to engage all farmers, and in other
countries this idea has not registered any pilot project at all. One of the
challenges of this crop insurance project is the land tenure system in Africa
but let’s borrow some knowledge from countries like India where it has been
implemented. India’s Crop insurance operates on area approach whereby, instead
of individual farmers like Mr. Mutebi from Masaka who owns a small farmland,
the entire administrative area for example a village, a district or a county is
insured and all farmers benefit at once including Mr. Mutebi. The America’s
Crop Insurance has a slogan, “Crop insurance keeps America growing” and for
sure if this is implemented in the entire continent, the Africa of my dream
will have come to reality.
A number of farmers in my country access credit
through commercial banks and in my opinion, most of these banks consider
agriculture as a risk venture. This is why I think that governments on the
continent should encourage more Farmers’ banks because agriculture is still a
backbone to many Economies on the continent. Such banks increase accessibility
of credit by farmers, ensuring that farmers get the desired amount of credit
and can support farmers in purchasing quality seeds, fertilizers and other
agricultural inputs. The fact that these banks are farmers’ minded, they can as
well advise farmers regarding climatic changes and market demands of each of
their crops.
We always say that union is strength and so should
farmers on the continent consider unity through cooperatives. With the
assistance from their governments, farmers in each country can start and
develop as many cooperatives as the agricultural produce they have. Through
such cooperatives, the government’s assisting hand can easily reach out to her
farmers especially during credit access, distribution of quality seeds and
fertilizers, sensitization and advisory meetings, pesticide distribution, just
to mention but a few. In a business you need to know the market dynamics and
through cooperatives, farmers can acquire information about the market demands
of their produce and how to manage the demand and supply of their produce to
the consumers.
Cooperatives
can ensure food security which is a big challenge not only in Africa but also
other parts of the world especially those affected by civil wars and natural
disasters. Through such cooperatives, Africa can secure the World’s food basket
position which makes a part of my great dream about Africa. A farmers’
cooperation in Kenya named Githunguri Dairy Farmers which was started in early
1960s has helped to ensure value addition on milk through their company Fresha
Milk Ltd. Other co-operations like for coffee in Ethiopia and Cotton in Mali
are doing a wonderful job in those countries. This does not only create more
employment opportunities for local people but also helps our countries to
reduce on the tendency of exporting unprocessed agricultural products which
later come back as highly expensive finished goods in form of cheese,
chocolate, café and clothes.
It is always a pleasure for everyone to live in the
life of his or her dream but to me it is only a pleasure when I see how my
efforts are leading me towards the life of my dream. For that reason therefore,
it is our duty as Africans to make Africa a place for the life of our dream; For
God and My Country.
