FUTA Lecture :Time up for “hoe and cutlass” agriculture in Africa -FARA Director

Agriculture has once again been identified as one of the key agents of transformation which is critical to the sustenance of inclusive growth and reduction of poverty in Africa. Dr. Yemi Akinbamijo, Executive Director, Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa [FARA] based in Accra, Ghana stated this while delivering the 2014 Annual Lecture of the School of Agriculture and Agricultural Technology [SAAT] of the Federal University of Technology, Akure Friday, 1st August, 2014. Akinbamijo who spoke on “Systematic Analysis of the African Agricultural Transformation :Lifting Productivity Barriers in Agri-Food Systems” however warned that time has come for Africa to do away with what he described as ‘hoe and cutlass’ agriculture which is no longer relevant to a continent in search of food security.
He said governments and other stakeholders should embrace mechanized Agriculture and also encourage youths to take the lead in agricultural activities. According to him, the future of agriculture and its growth is in doubt if the youth continue to shun the sector and most farmers continue to use elementary tools. He also called on government and big operators in agribusiness to increase attractiveness of agriculture by making it profitable, reliable and modern.
Akinbamijo said without food security, sustained improvements in human development will remain an unattainable goal. Quoting Africa Human Development Report, he said, though progress has been made over the years, yet Africa still lags behind the rest of the world in food security indicators because a quarter of her population is still undernourished with per capital food production stagnated.
According to him, between years 1961 and 2000 Africa population rose to 98% with food production rising to 146% and per capital food production rising at 24%, but today, this has drastically declined. To raise the bar, he called for improvement in scientific and technological innovation, government policy and institutional intervention and business investment, innovation and delivery.
Speaking further, he said for Africa to fill the production gap, it needs to expand agricultural land area, irrigation water supply, aquaculture production and imbibe new farming systems that will improve land and water use, crop and livestock production. He also called for avoidance of land and water degradation, minimizing climate change through mitigation and adapting to unavoidable climate change.
Akinbamijo further said “challenges will always abound, overcoming them is the real challenge”. He therefore called for comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme [CAADP] for Africa’s Agriculture Transformation Agenda to be achieved.
He said “the pathway to transformation is wealth creation, economic opportunities and prosperity through job creation and poverty reduction, improved food and nutrition security, resilience and environmental sustainability, increased agriculture production and productivity, expanded local agro-industry and value addition and improved management and governance of natural resources for sustainable agricultural production”.
On the implication of this to FUTA, he said FUTA should align its agenda in research and training to CAADP, science agenda and global priorities. “FUTA as a Continental Centre of Excellence in food security should always maintain and sustain the lead to revolutionize agric sector” he added. He also called on the University authority to sufficiently integrate the so-called golden triangle (knowledge-Government-Business) by taking the lead to strengthen the triangle. Akinbamijo further called on FUTA to broaden its research and development efforts through Integrated Agricultural Research for Development [IAR4D] to address the low adoption of agricultural research output in the country and Africa as a continent.
Conclusively, he said “no society has transformed itself socially and economically without adequately leveraging the power of science, especially in the dominant sector to increase their productivity. Building and sustaining basic capacity is essential to realizing the transformation vision in agriculture. Thus, higher education institutions have special roles to play in the transformation agenda. FUTA should always take the lead as a specialized University and a leading Centre of Excellence”.
Addressing the gathering, the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Adebiyi Daramola said “If the Agricultural Transformation Agenda will succeed in Nigeria and Africa as a whole, we must commit ourselves to regular and proactive systematic analysis of the agricultural sector. I am happy that today’s lecture has broadened our horizon on how to systematically analyse agricultural transformation in Africa so as to further open our eyes to our roles as a University and a stakeholder in the nation’s agricultural sector.”
Speaking further, he said Nigeria has adopted an innovative framework for transforming the agricultural sector through the vision of the Minister of Agriculture Dr. Akinwumi Adesina who is working vigorously to achieve a hunger free Nigeria by improving income growth accelerated food and national security, generating employment and transforming Nigeria to a leading player in food markets to grow wealth for millions of farmers.
On the theme, Daramola said it is a manifestation of the University’s commitment to top quality contribution not only to the discourse of food security, but also to enhance Africa’s agricultural productivity to have a hunger-free continent.
Dean, School of Agriculture and Agricultural Technology [SAAT], Professor Shadrack Akindele said “improving agricultural productivity in Africa is of paramount importance as much of the increases in our agriculture have been as a result of expanded land area. That is the reason for the need of improvement in productivity of African farmers. Today’s lecture opens opportunities and linkages for our capacity development at different levels”.