Zimbabwe has consistently been one of the food insecurity hotspots in the Southern African region, particularly during periods of drought. This meant that organisations such as the World Food Programme, amongst others, should always have the country on their radar, as a country that requires assistance.
Many African countries import grain during their tough drought seasons. However, what is rarely mentioned is that some of these imports may have been processed through the World Food Programme (WFP).
However, the WFP is now weakened since the U.S. administration decided to downsize funding to USAID, one of the WFP’s supporters. This leaves Zimbabwe and other countries that typically received support at risk.
Amongst many things that could be done in the face of this challenge is improving domestic agricultural production. And yes, this won’t be an overnight intervention and will take time to yield gains. I won’t bother rehashing what must happen and how the African government could restart their agrarian economies.
However, what caught my attention was an article posted by the African Development Bank (AFDB) regarding the approval of a grant for Zimbabwe’s agriculture.
The AFDB states that its directors approved the following:
“a $10.12 million grant from its African Development Fund to boost sustainable agricultural production and strengthen rural resilience in drought-prone regions. The project is expected to directly benefit 7,000 livestock-keeping farmers and 42,000 smallholder/crop farmers in Zimbabwe”.
The ADFB further adds that:
“The project’s primary focus is on climate-smart agricultural productivity and value chain enhancement, which includes rehabilitating dip tanks, developing solar-powered boreholes, and supporting crop-livestock value chains to enhance food and nutrition security; building rural communities’ livelihoods and resilience to climate change- to support integrated land use planning, landscape restoration, and catchment management to improve water security.”
Zimbabwe needs such intervention. However, the focus will now also be on its practical use, and notably, on the long-term approach of kickstarting the country’s agricultural sector, which requires more than this minor grant, but a policy change, from land reform (land governance) to reform in seed administration legislations, amongst other things.
Beyond Zimbabwe, we must all appreciate that the challenge of hunger on the African continent is more pressing now than they have been in the past. The multinational organisations that provided a cushion in the past may not be around to help us in Africa. The challenge lies in boosting Africa’s agriculture and addressing the issues of poverty and underdevelopment.
The long-term effort will be a tough job, but at a very high level, it would entail, amongst other things, the following:
- Addressing the lingering land reform issues (in Zimbabwe) and in the broader African continent, the need for extending title deeds or tradable leases to farmers and agribusinesses is vital for attracting investments.
- Second, investments in infrastructure are critical for improving the value chains.
- Third, embrace technological advancements in seeds, genetics, and agrochemicals, which boost productivity.
- Lastly, supporting commercial farming, which will be essential for the growth of the agro-processing sector in various countries’ food systems and as a source of employment, is a critical step for agricultural progress in Africa.
For a deeper discussion, I encourage you to rewatch this talk, drawing on South African examples (see here).
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