THE AFRICA OF MY DREAM

                                        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.