With an inclusive agricultural policy, Africa can feed itself and create millions of Jobs by farouk Gumel

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Farouk Gumel-In a continent where some 50 of its
population are farmers, Africa still imports
billions of dollars of food every year to meet
its needs. These imports, which are by choice and
not out of necessity, have kept the demand for
locally produced food items at extremely low
levels. As a result, Africas rural farmers,
except for those in export focused value chains,
were left in a vicious circle of subsistence with
little opportunity for growth. The sad fact is
these imported food items (including grains) can
be grown indigenously.
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In Africa, agriculture remains the key link that
connects the affluent urban centres to the poorer
rural areas. What does this mean you ask? Well,
Africas growing middle class (entrepreneurs or
salaried staff) live in its urban centres. They
spend a sizable amount of their income on food.
But due to Africas reliance on food imports,
these funds are sent overseas thereby creating
jobs abroad. As the urban consumer patronises
imported food items, the rural farmer is, for the
lack of a better word, excluded from Africas
prosperity story. The African Development Bank
(AfDB) estimates that Africas food import bill
will rise to over110 billion by 2025.
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A lot of the migration trends we are seeing
within Africa (rural to urban) are mostly due to
the exclusion of Africas rural farmers for the
continents prosperity story. It is a fact that
until recently, agricultural policies in most
African countries have focused on the export
value chain (cocoa, cashew, sesame). Now, we
are seeing more backward integration policies on
food grain production (rice, maize, meat). These
policies leverage Inclusive Value Chain
Development (IVCD) to enhance local food
production while restricting imports.
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In countries like Senegal, Mali and Nigeria, the
IVCD approach is gaining traction as it links
small scale producers to other value chain actors
mostly in urban areas thereby guaranteeing
offtake. This approach is leading to a gradual
increase in rural farmer income. Many
processing companies utilizing these rural supply
chains have also introduced women empowerment
programs, yield enhancement techniques and other
sustainability projects which are further
enhancing productivity and working conditions.
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Many companies such as Dangote, Bua Group, Olam,
Flour Mills Nigeria and TGI Group are
aggressively investing in the IVCD approach.
Farouk Gumel of TGI says his company has
invested millions of dollars in out grower
farming programs for rice paddy, soya beans and
maize in Nigeria. These programs supply raw
materials to TGIs rice mill, multi seed oil
crushing facilities and poultry farms.
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Farouk Gumel states that through these
investments, the TGIs rural outgrower farmers
receive quality inputs, training in modern
farming techniques and a guaranteed offtake of
their produce while the factories have a
guaranteed and consistent supply of raw
materials. These programs, which are supported
by strong fiscal and monetary policies, have re
energised the rural farming communities TGI
operates by creating jobs and increasing farmer
income while achieving import substitution of
essential food items.
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It is not clear how the African Continental Free
Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) would impact these IVCD
initiatives. But we hope this approach will be
sustained and enhanced to fully harness Africas
most valuable resources a youthful energetic
population and plentiful arable land. Farouk
Gumel is an Executive Director at TGI Group, a
pan African conglomerate with investments across
key agricultural value chains.
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