Professor Calestous Juma, Faculty Chair of Harvard Kennedy School
and the author of the ‘New Harvest: Agricultural innovation in Africa’
gave an inspiring lecture on Agricultural innovation in Africa at The
Commission for Science and Technology (COSTECH) in Dar es Salaam. The proceeding are the interview talks;QUESTION: What is the missing link between available agriculture opportunities and development in Africa and Tanzania in particular?
ANSWER: The main issue is that so far agriculture has been viewed as a sector rather that a foundation for overall economic transformation. Initial investments in agriculture such as infrastructure services help to lay the basis transitioning from labour-intensive activities to agro-industries. In this regard, agricultural innovation (not just farming) is a critical starting point for industrial development. This, however, does not mean that industrial development cannot occur without starting with agriculture. But strategically, it makes sense to start with the sector that employs most people and the diversify to other industries.
Q: I understand that you are the author of The New Harvest: Agricultural Innovation in Africa, how would you describe the current state of agricultural innovation in Africa.
A: The state of agricultural innovation in Africa is in its nascent stage. The good news is rise of interest among African presidents in transformation agriculture. Tanzania’s President Jakaya Kikwete has emerged as an internationally-recognized champion of agricultural innovation. Because of his leadership leading international investors have committed nearly US$3.5 billion for investment in African agriculture. This ‘Grow Africa’ initiative was inspired through the World Economic Forum and enjoys the support of the African Union. This is the kind of leadership and support that Africa has previously lacked.
Q: What are the available opportunities for agricultural innovation in Africa and in a country like Tanzania in particular?
A: The mainly opportunity for agricultural innovation is the fact that nearly 60 percent of the arable land available in the world is in Africa. This gives Africa the opportunity to leverage international investment as well as technological innovation in the agricultural sector. The challenge for Tanzania and Africa is defining agriculture not just as farming, but as a dynamic, entrepreneurial and knowledge-intensive activity.
Q: What are the key challenges for agricultural innovation in Africa and in a country like Tanzania in particular?
A: The main challenge is the low level of investment in critical rural infrastructure such as energy, transportation, irrigation and telecoms. Investments in these sectors will make it easier to improve technological innovation in the sector. Low-cost roads—which can be built with the help of the military—could significantly improve agricultural productivity by making it easier to transport input and produce and as a result create agricultural markets.
Q: Looking at agricultural technologies, what are the frontiers of agricultural technologies and what are their roles in addressing food security in Africa and Tanzania in particular?
A: Countries such as Mexico, India, China and the Philippines used very limited technologies to implement their agricultural revolutions. As a late-comer, Tanzania has access to a wider range of technologies that it can leverage to address food security and agricultural innovation in generation. These include advances in information and communications technologies, geospatial science and technology and biotechnology. In addition, there have been many advances in ecological management and natural resource conservation that should be part of the sustainable intensification of agriculture.
Q: Tanzania is blessed to have fertile land for agriculture, yet it is expected to face shortage of food in this agricultural season. According to the government, a total of 51 district councils from 15 regions will face acute shortage of food this season. What are your views on this?
A: This situation is a good example of the urgency of investing in rural infrastructure, especially starting with low-cost roads. This can be done with the help of the military and other public institutions that have access to machinery. The next step would be mobilize the expertise of line ministries responsible for agriculture, science and technology, energy, transportation and others to offer technical support to farmers.
Q: For a long time now, Africa and Tanzania in particular have banked on foreign investments in agriculture as the solution for food security. In most cases, locals especially small scale farmers have been “forgotten” at the expense of these foreign investors. What are your views on this?
A: One way to support small scale farmers is to view them as entrepreneurs, not just as producers. Farmers can also become more innovative if they can organize themselves through rural enterprises. They should be accorded the same types of credit services given to urban entrepreneurs.
One success approach for supporting rural entrepreneurship is Brazil’s Agricultural Research Corporation (EMBRAPA) which provides technical support and credit to farmers. Ethiopia has created the Agricultural Transformation Agency which has parallels with Brazil’s EMBRAPA. Tanzania might want to consider a variant of this model that suits its circumstances.
Q: Tanzania is currently experiencing crop diseases than any other time in the history of the nation such as maize lethal necrotic, cassava mosaic disease (CMD) and cassava brown streak disease (CBSD) which constitute the main threat to staple food crops. What should be done to eliminate such diseases?
A:Tanzania and other African countries will continue to experience increases in crop diseases partly because of climate change. In addition, climate change is going to alter ecological conditions requiring more intensive breeding programmess.
Advances in biotechnology offer additional tools for being able to respond to such challenges in a timely manner. Countries that have made a head-start in using such techniques in crops such as cotton will have the ability to apply the same techniques to addressing emerging agricultural challenges. Those that are too slow to adopt such techniques are likely to be condemned to food imports from other countries.
It should be stressed that Tanzania needs to have access to all possible technologies including organic farming tools. It should be able to make choices based on relevance and need. Tanzania should be pragmatic when it comes to new technologies and should avoid making decisions based on political rhetoric and ecological ideologies that are not supported by evidence.
Q: Given the vast resources it has, is Africa prepared to join tiger countries or even become an economic super power?
A: All the so-called Tigers made great strides not because of natural resources but because they heavily invested in human resources. More specifically, they invested heavily in training their people in science, technology, engineering and math.
Africa is not doing enough of this and universities remain heavily focused on the social sciences. Without such investments African countries will remain locked in raw material exports. Today’s so-called “Africa Rising” phenomenon is largely driven by raw material exports and does not represent a significant change in the industrial structure of African economies.
Q: Finally, what is your call to the African governments and Tanzania in particular on advancing agricultural technology?
A: The main challenge today is to make agriculture an entrepreneurial, technology-intensive and dynamic sector. Doing so will require investing infrastructure and bringing higher technical training to farmers.
Line ministries should be empowered to create higher technical training programmes that are directly linked to farmers so they that can help create agro-industries.
The challenge for higher education is not to produce certificates but to add value to the economy. If existing universities cannot do the job, new ones under line ministries need to be created to champion this important goal. This has been done in many countries such as China, Malaysia, Korea, Taiwan and others. It is not a choice for Africa anymore; it is a necessity and Tanzania is best-placed to become a pioneer in Africa’s agricultural transformation through science, technology and innovation.
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