Experts say Africa can feed itself

• Feeble agricultural policies blamed for continent’s perennial shortages of food

Sub-Saharan Africa has the potential to feed itself and produce enough for the world were it not for poor agricultural policies.

Global food security dominated discussions at the international conference on agroforestry on Tuesday as delegates sought ways to boost productivity in the world’s most food insecure region.

Over 10 million Kenyans are at risk of starvation as drought ravages the country.

The resultant water crisis has had a devastating effect on the country’s pastoralist communities as their animals die in droves.

President for the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (Agra), Dr Namanga Ngongi said that investments in African agriculture must focus on the continent’s high-potential breadbasket areas.

“These regions have relatively good soils, rainfall and infrastructure and could rapidly change from areas of chronic food scarcity to breadbaskets,” he said.

He said such investments must support the millions of smallholder farmers who grow the bulk of Africa’s food.

“For us to make change in the way food is produced, we must make agriculture professional,” Dr Ngongi told delegates at the second World Congress of Agroforestry in Nairobi.

“A functional system based on an open market is key to food security; farmers ought to be guaranteed minimum returns on their effort if they are to continue producing food,” he said.

The five-day conference brings together experts from around the globe to discuss the importance of trees on farms.

Climate change

The conference highlights new research on sustainable approaches to farming that can help slow climate change and meet the food needs of an additional three billion people by 2050.

The congress, whose theme is “Agroforestry — The future of global land use”, seeks to exploit agroforestry to promote sustainable land use worldwide.

Over 1,000 researchers, practitioners, farmers, and policy makers from all over the world are attending.

Access to cheap credit, availability of farm inputs and better research institutions are some of the areas that need support to herald “a green revolution for Africa”, Dr Ngongi said.

On Monday, President Kibaki told delegates that legislation to grow trees on 10 per cent of Kenya’s agricultural land is on the cards.

Citing poverty and food insecurity as some of the serious challenges facing the country, the President singled out the adverse effects of climate change as the cause of lower crop yields and drought.

“Kenya is experiencing the vagaries of climate change. We have received inadequate rains in the last three years. Millions now have to depend on relief food,” he said in a speech read on his behalf by Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka.