ROPPA

Changes in agriculture in Africa : case in the context of West Africa

Mamadou Cissokho

I. Characteristics of agriculture in West Africa

¡ Agriculture includes activities in the field of agriculture, silviculture, pastoralims and fishing.

¡ These activities are carried out by men, women, young people (boys as well as girls) and even older people within families, so that in the vast majority of cases we speak of family farms.

¡ Family farms produce more than 85 % of all the agro-silvo-pastoral and halieutical production. In agriculture families exploit about 2 to 5 ha of fields, including breeding of cattle and poultry.

¡ On the family farms two main cultures occur : ¡ Cultivation of food crops (cereal crops, cassava, yam, sweet

potatoes, cow peas, peanuts, ...)¡ Cultivation of export crops (coffee, cocoa, cotton, bananas,

pineapple, peanuts, ...)¡ To this you have to add the products of fishing and picking, as

well as production of hides and leather.¡ The African agricultural producers are under-equipped and

weakly organized.

II. Position of agriculture in the region

After all, agriculture keeps the African countries alive

Africa is an exception in the world : the majority of African countries earn their domestic product with agriculture.

Source :http://nebula.worldbank.org/Website/agricsharewdi/viewer.htm

6% to 9%

Less than 6%

10% to 19%

20% to 29%

30% and more

No data

Share of agriculture in GDP, 1999

The numerous rural population drives the economic machinery

Rural population in the ECOWAS area

In 2003 ECOWAS had a population of 250 million

The rural population consists of 145 million people.

Could we get some attention ?

Context 1/3 – A dominating position in the economy of the region

v 35% of the regional GDP v 15% of export incomesv 65% of active population of the

region, with a majority of womenv 500 million ha available, of which 57

million are exploited

Those figures do not tell everything :1. Prices of agricultural products were depressed ;

2. In certain countries exports of agricultural products represent more than 2/3 or even 3/4 of the value of exported goods.

New York Stock ExchangeCOTON

ARACHIDES

RIZ

Causes : Insufficiently utilized opportinities !?

¡ A natural complementaritybetween ecological zones (cattle breeding and dry cereals in the North and water demanding tuberous plants and cereals in the South)

¡ 71,36 million ha arable land (14% utilized) ; 132,2 million ha pastoral land (25,9% utilized)

RIZ

¡ Strong demographic growth

¡ Soaring urbanization

¡ Fast growing urban food demand (In 2015 62% of the 400 million inhabitants will live in cities)

Céréales sèches

III. Agriculture and public policies¡ The agricultural, silvicultural, pastoral and halieutical activities can be

considered as money spinners for most of the ECOWAS member states, since they have brought about foreign currencies and sureties for public loans for urbanization without vision and policies toconsolidate the achievements in rural areas.

¡ Farmers have provided their countries with more resources than their societies have benefited from national budgets.

¡ This misappropriation of the agricultural added value of family farms for urbanization has dug the gap that has become the social rupture and the governance of independence.

¡ Such an economic policy can only lead to the following state of our agriculture since two decades :

¡ discouragement among farmers¡ Rural exodus¡ Strong decrease of investments by farmers¡ Decrease of agricultural productivity¡ Deterioration of soil fertility¡ Deterioration of the quality of sowing seed ...

¡ All these troubles curtail our dynamism.¡ Several bad harvest years (1973, 1974, 1984,

1985, 2004) and the structural adjustment of our economies have accelerated the crisis in the implementation of all our activities.

¡ From self-sufficiency of our families and countries during the first fifteen years of political sovereignty, our region has now fallen into food insecurity, a decrease of our export capacities for agricultural products and the development of food imports.

IV. The food paradox of West Africa

West Africa is an agricultural area

There is land There is know-how

A strong increase in production(between 20 and 80% in Africa)

-50 -20 0 20 50 80 100

%

Map 3Based on data from FAOSTAT. Prepared by: FAO Statistics Division Rome, 2003

No data for one or both variables

20% or more undernourished

><

Increase in production

(1990-2002)

The food situation in West Africa : a true paradox! An equation to solve !

Net Trade in Food (1999-2001)Commerce

alimentaire (1999-2001)

% (Exports-Imports) / Consumptionexpressed in calories

< -50 -25 0 25 50 >

Map 5Based on data from FAOSTAT. Prepared by: FAO Statistics Division Rome, 2003

No data for one or both variables

20% or more undernourished

The food paradox of AfricaA growing food dependence (net importers )

A growing food dependence in spite of a growing production

6,6%2 029 386 1 902 944 Global

6,0%1 914 488 1 805 514 Rest of the

world

17,9%114 898 97 431 Africa

16,3%39 266 33 753 West Africa

Rate (10 years)20021993Regions

Production of cereals (x1000 t)

18,2%276 894 234 337 Global

13,9%226 669 198 948 Rest of the

world

41,9%50 225 35 390 Africa

60,0%8 452 5 284 West Africa

Rate (10 years)20021993

Regions

Imports of cereals

A production of cereals that is growing 2,7 times faster in Africa than in the rest of the world

But imports that grow 3 to 4 times faster

These imports Restrain the access of agricultural producers to local and regional markets –

Contribute to worsen poverty in rural areas and to the development of a sub-proletariat in the rural environment

The food paradox of West Africa

¡ The rural areas that produce can no longer ensure their food in sufficient quantities and sufficient quality

¡ The localized overproduction of cereals and other foodstuff does not find proper outlets

¡ People in the cities eat less and less what is produced locally

Is this a tragedy or an opportunity ?

The food paradox :

multiple causes

but

an equation that absolutely must be solved