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Agriculture thrives while farmers languish: Wealth creators live a life of penury across the globe.

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Looking at the production figures, it is quite evident that farmers provide the foundation for economic growth, and are in reality wealth creators. But when we look at farm incomes, the misery and pain with which farmers somehow survive remains rather unexplained. And yet, instead of helping them directly with measures and programmes that can enhance their income, and that includes providing a guaranteed price, the focus of policy makers has been to strengthen the supply chain, which implies supporting the players at the two extremes

When Glenn Davis Stone, a distinguished research professor of Environmental Studies, and author of ‘Agricultural Dilemma: How not to feed the world’, tweeted the other day, saying: “I’d separate agribusiness from farmers. Most federal aid has been to the former at expense of the latter,” I realised how truly he had summed up the dilemma that policy makers, policy analysts and the media encounter, and how wrongly we are made to believe that any aid or support to agribusiness construes support to farmers.In my response, I tweeted: “In India too, most analyst equate support to agribusiness as support to farmers. That is why agriculture continues to grow while farmers are left behind.

“At least, this is what I have observed over the years. While the profits of agribusiness companies, which provide inputs like chemical fertiliser, pesticides, tractors and other farm implements to farmers, continues to swell with their stocks rising, farmers are faced with a severe agrarian crisis. At the same time, reports of irate farmers throwing their tomato, garlic, onion, potato and brinjal harvests, to name a few, into canals or being put to fire, appear regularly in the media. With the market price not even sufficient to cover the cost of production, farmers are left with little choice but to dump the produce.While the farmers suffer the consequences, I have never seen traders (and that includes organised buyers) incurring losses as a result. In Punjab, for instance, more than 16,600 suicides by farmers and farm workers were reported in the 15-year period, between 2000 and 2015. But we hardly hear of suicides by traders (unless for personal reasons) and by input suppliers. In other words, the agricultural supply chain is so cleverly designed that both the players at the two ends rake in profits, while only the farmers take the hit. That is why despite producing a record harvest year after year, farmers continue to languish at the bottom of the ladder.

I have often wondered why is it that while the FAO estimates that India’s gross value of crop production in 2018 (report released in March 2021) is at $ 289, 802, 032 million, and that of gross food production at $400,722,025 million, farmers continue to live in misery. After all, India stands next only to China, with a gross value of $418, 541,343 million, and yet farming continues to be faced with a terrible distress. This is depicted by a Situation Assessment Survey of Agricultural Households for the year 2018-19, estimating the average farm household income at Rs 10,218 ($124.7) per month. While this includes income from non-farm activities, but when seen alone, income from farming operations, comes to a paltry Rs 27 ($0.33) per day.

Looking at the production figures, it is quite evident that farmers provide the foundation for economic growth, and are in reality wealth creators. But when we look at farm incomes, the misery and pain with which farmers somehow survive remains rather unexplained. And yet, instead of helping them directly with measures and programmes that can enhance their income, and that includes providing a guaranteed price, the focus of policy makers has been to strengthen the supply chain, which implies supporting the players at the two extremes.

A simple and easily understandable answer is provided by Venky Ramachandran, a techie who runs a resourceful website called Agribusiness Matters. Imagine an iconic emotive smiley, and take out the U-shape from the drawing which depicts a smile (see the attached figure).

On the two extremes at the top are agricultural input manufacturers on the one hand, and an agricultural output buyer at the other end. At the bottom of the curve is the producer. While the two ends of the supply chain are reeling in profits, it is the farmer who lies at the bottom of the heap. The ‘smiling curve’ therefore provides a simple answer to a sad question that most people tend to ignore, and then he asks: “Why are farmers not making money when everyone else around them in the world of agribusiness is?” As I have often explained, despite new technology improving efficiency and thereby increasing productivity, farm incomes have been on a decline. As Canadian author and critic Darrin Qualman has shown in an analysis, while the wheat price (adjusted for inflation) has come down over a period of 150 years, from $30 per bushel in 1867 to $5 per bushel in 2017, bread prices have been on a rise. In the past four decades, bread prices have jumped several times.

Similarly, take the case of bananas exported from Latin America to Europe. The farmer’s share of the end consumer price is so low that it doesn’t even cover the cost of production. Farmers toil for over nine months every year and yet live on pittance. But agribusiness companies at both the ends of the supply chain have no complaint, whatsoever.I remember a US farmer tweeting sometimes back that the price of corn he received in 2020 was less than what his father had received in the early 1970s. The point I am trying to make is that farm distress is global, and the smiley diagram aptly captures the tragedy.

The lesson here is obvious. When a budgetary boost is provided across agricultural value chains, with emphasis on building up a digital public infrastructure and for setting up a dedicated fund for agriculture start-ups, the question that needs to be asked is how will it translate into a higher income for farmers? Even in the case of Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs), while a lot of excitement hinges on the ability to aggregate and therefore negotiate a higher price for farmers, in a majority of cases the price being provided to farmers is much lower than the Minimum Support Price (MSP).

The proposed Agriculture Accelerator Fund as announced in Budget 2023 too aims to support agriculture start-ups to find innovative solutions to challenges faced by farmers, and it remains to be seen whether it ends up nurturing the technology-provider or in reality ends up building the entrepreneurial ability of the farmer. I am not against technology but as the ‘smiling curve’ shows it hasn’t helped farmers to be equally profitable and thereby become economically viable.Perhaps a better way would be to guarantee a minimum share of the end consumer price that the agricultural supply chain must ensure to farmers.(The author is a noted food policy analyst and an expert on issues related to the agriculture sector. He writes on food, agriculture and hunger)

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Ghana Meteorological Agency has enacted digital reforms to improve weather and climate informations.

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The Ghana Meteorological Agency (GMet) has introduced some far-reaching technological initiatives with the goal of providing timely and accurate weather and climate information services to accelerate Ghana’s socioeconomic development.

The reform efforts would see the automation and digitisation of GMet data for efficient weather and climate information services, as well as data collection and analysis for effective end-user dissemination.

‘Mr. Eric Asuma, Director-General of the Ghana Meteorological Agency, stated this at a stakeholder workshop on Nowcasting Flood Impacts of Convective Storms in the Sahel (NFLICS) in Ghana.

The Agency, in collaboration with the United Kingdom Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, organised the workshop in Koforidua to pilot the NFLICS early warning system over the Gulf of Guinea, particularly in Ghana.

Forecasters are expected to enhance their skills to be able to use the NFLICS system to generate nowcast flood impacts over Ghana. The NFLICS is also to guide policymakers and disaster management institutions in their efforts to protect lives and property.

Mr Asuma told the Ghana News Agency that it was critical for GMET to develop and maintain a strong working relationship with other agencies, such as the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) to reduce the impact of disasters.

“They [NADMO] are our key stakeholders and a direct ally of ours. In fact, when we come out with our forecasts, NADMO is interested in the nature of the forecasts we issue, especially when we issue a weather warning,” he explained.

Early warning is an integral part of GMet duties, and the World Meteorological Organisation is pushing for early warning. Research has also shown approximately 40 per cent of the populations in Africa do not receive early warnings.

But to be efficient in weather and climate information | services, Mr. Asuma noted that the work called for the acquisition and application of modern equipment to collect, analyze, and disseminate data, as well as building the capacity of personnel.

“We are automating; gradually, every piece of equipment that we are buying is automatic and will save, record, and transmit very reliable, timely weather information for forecasters to analyze,” he said.

He further mentioned that there had been tremendous improvement in the operations of GMet over the last few years, particularly since 2018.

He said the government bought transformers, 10 automatic weather stations, and 12 automatic weather equipment, including a message switching system to take all information on weather and transmit it to the global telecommunications system.

“This helps for water, flood, and draught management, which assist GMet to run models and get some service,” he added, “as well as build a robust data base for meteorologists to do analysis.”

GMet is also working to digitize its data through a national adaptation programme under the Environmental Protection Agency that would see data from 60 years or so ago being archived for easy retrieval. According to him, clearance was received to recruit close to 300 staff, particularly scientists, researchers, and meteorologists.

Mr Joshua Asamoah, a meteorologist, said the training aimed to validate NFLICS tools as well, but added that “the more models or tools you have in forecasting, the higher your confidence or probability for a prediction or event.”

The nowcasting tools would also enable forecasters to see what was happening right now for about six hours, stating: “There are many tools that are already being used to develop this type of forecast,’ he explained, “but this new one will complement the old ones to improve the probability of predicting weather and climate events.”

The nowcasting, according to Nana Kweigyah, President of the Canoe and Fishing Gear Owners’ Association of Ghana, would help canoe owners in Ghana’s four coastal areas participate effectively in fisheries management and governance.

He stated that climate change had increased the vulnerability of small-scale fishers by increasing the number of bad weather days, and that their reliance on weather forecasts would boost their fishing expeditions.

“You cannot go fishing if the weather is inclement. Now, bad weather also translates into a bad pushing state or dangerous rough pushing state, and you cannot go on a fishing expedition at such times,” he said.

“So, we usually go fishing based on the weather. Just last year, between March and April, about 70 canoes were damaged,’ he added. “We have relied on the Ghana Meteorological Agency for ocean state information in order to decide whether or not to go to sea.”

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Millions of People at Risk – The Hidden Cost of Soaring Fertilizer Prices.

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Fertilizer is an essential component in modern agriculture, providing vital nutrients to crops that help them grow healthy and abundant. Without fertilizer, soil can become depleted of key nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium, leading to reduced crop yields and lower-quality produce.

A study suggests that rising fertilizer prices could threaten an additional 100 million people with undernourishment.

The conflict in Ukraine has resulted in the blockading of significant amounts of wheat, barley, and corn, however, researchers have found that the reduced food exports from the region have a lesser impact on food price increases than previously feared.

A study led by researchers from the University of Edinburgh indicates that the primary driver of food insecurity in the coming decades will be the significant increase in energy and fertilizer prices.

Until now, how energy and fertilizer price rises and export restrictions affects future global food prices was poorly understood. There has also been little analysis to quantify the scale of harm that hikes in the price of food could have on human nutritional health and the environment.

The team used a global land-use computer model to simulate the effects of export restrictions and spikes in production costs on food prices, health, and land use until 2040.

Their simulations suggest the combined effect of export restrictions, increased energy costs, and mid-2022 fertilizer prices – which are three times higher than at the start of the previous year – could cause food costs to rise by 81 percent in 2023 compared to 2021 levels.

Export restrictions account for only a small fraction of the simulated price rises, the team says. Halting exports from Russia and Ukraine would increase food costs in 2023 by 2.6 percent, while spikes in energy and fertilizer prices would cause a 74 percent rise.

Food price rises would lead to many people’s diets becoming poorer, the team says.

The findings suggest there could be up to one million additional deaths and more than 100 million people undernourished if high fertilizer prices continue. The greatest increases in deaths would be in Sub-Saharan Africa, North Africa, and the Middle East.

The modeling estimates that sharp increases in the cost of fertilizers – which are key to producing high yields – would greatly reduce their use by farmers. Without fertilizers more agricultural land is needed to produce the world’s food, the team says.

The simulations indicate that by 2030 this could increase agricultural land by an area the size of much of Western Europe – Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, and the UK. This would have severe impacts on deforestation, carbon emissions, and biodiversity loss, the team says.

The study is published in the journal Nature Food. It also involved researchers from Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Germany, Rutgers University in the USA, and the University of Aberdeen.

Dr. Peter Alexander, of the University of Edinburgh’s School of GeoSciences, who led the study, said: “This could be the end of an era of cheap food. While almost everyone will feel the effects of that on their weekly shop, it’s the poorest people in society, who may already struggle to afford enough healthy food, who will be hit hardest.

“The Black Sea Grain Initiative is a welcome development and has largely allowed Ukraine food exports to be re-established, but the immediacy of these issues appears to have diverted attention away from the impact of fertilizer prices. While fertilizer prices are coming down from the peaks of earlier this year, they remain high and this may still feed through to continued high food price inflation in 2023. More needs to be done to break the link between higher food prices and harm to human health and the environment.”

Reference: “High energy and fertilizer prices are more damaging than food export curtailment from Ukraine and Russia for food prices, health and the environment” by Peter Alexander, Almut Arneth, Roslyn Henry, Juliette Maire, Sam Rabin, and Mark D. A. Rounsevell, 23 December 2022, Nature Food.

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Child Labour report: We’ll take on Al Jazeera – COCOBOD

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The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD), Mr. Joseph Boahen Aidoo, says COCOBOD will take on Al Jazeera over the report it has made about child labour in cocoa farms in Ghana.

He also said those who granted the interviews are being sent to court to investigate the matter.

In a report, Al Jazeera, stated that the use of child labour, has risen in cocoa farms in Ghana during the past decade despite industry promises to reduce it.

According to the report, the prevalence of children doing hazardous work, including using sharp tools, has also gone up in the world’s top two cocoa producers, according to a study funded by the United States government.

Speaking on the matter on Atinka TV’s morning show, Ghana Nie with Ama Gyenfa Ofosu Darkwa, Mr Joseph Boahen Aidoo said COCOBOD will deal with Al Jazeera because the photos are a dent on the image of the cocoa industry.

“We will plead with the media because it is the image of the industry that we are denting.” We are causing damage to the cocoa industry, which is the glue that holds the economy together. “With what has happened, we shall prosecute the people, so all the farmers who were involved have been picked up by the police and are being processed for court; when they get there and they confirm that they were called on Sunday to the farm to take photos and give explanations, then we know that the people went to trick the farmers,” he said.

He again said, “We will also deal with Al Jazeera because even in the western world, when something happens to a child, his face is not exposed, they cover their face with something, but for this, the child was just walking and picking cocoa, just like that, and so even the woman whose child was involved has been disgraced, including her child, who is not even six months old. “All these are used to portray a bad image of Ghana, and so we have to deal with all of them.”

Meanwhile, Mr. Joseph Boahen Aidoo expressed worry over the issue, saying that due to that, when they send cocoa to the foreigners, they do not want to buy it because they feel you used child labour to gather the beans.

“That is why I am advising farmers, that if you are there any media come to you, not all of them are bad, but the unscrupulous media personnel that will come, and they do not have any affection for the nation but are only interested in money, I am pleading with the farmers that when they come, before they set their cameras, alert us at COCOBOD immediately,”

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How to live longer: 10 secret diets of people living longest and healthiest.

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Scientists agree the answers lie in a complex formula that includes our social connections, sleep habits, happiness levels, the environment, and having a sense of purpose.

Perhaps the most important ingredient, though, is the food and drink we consume.

Here is a recap of 10 key learnings of Buettner’s philosophy on following a Blue Zones diet.

1. Plant slant

See that 95 per cent of your food comes from a plant or a plant product. Favour beans, greens – especially spinach and kale – sweet potatoes, nuts and seeds, and wholegrains.

2. Retreat from meat

People in four of the five Blue Zones consume meat, but do so sparingly, as a celebratory food or a small side dish.

Consume meat no more than twice a week, favouring whole, free-range meat and avoiding processed meat such as bacon and hot dogs.

3. Fish is fine

Up to three ounces of fish daily (about the size of a deck of cards) is commonly consumed in Blue Zones.

Eat fish in the middle of the food chain, such as trout, snapper, grouper, sardines and anchovies, to avoid high levels of mercury. Avoid overfished species like Chilean sea bass, or farmed fish like salmon.

4. Ditch dairy

Cow’s milk does not feature significantly in any of the Blue Zones diets, although fermented goat and sheep’s milk, made into yogurt or cheese, do figure prominently in the diets of Ikarian and Sardinian centenarians.

Research shows our digestive systems are not optimised for cow’s milk products and we can get just as much calcium from a cup of cooked kale or a cup of tofu as a cup of milk.

5. Occasional eggs

Blue Zone residents usually eat no more than three free-range eggs a week. As with meat, eggs are consumed as a side dish, alongside wholegrains or plants.

Nicoyans fry an egg to fold into a corn tortilla to have with beans, while Okinawans boil an egg in their soup.

Mediterranean Blue Zone residents fry an egg as a side dish with bread, almonds and olives for breakfast.

6. Beans please

Eat at least half a cup of beans and legumes daily, whatever kind. Beans are the fundamental cornerstone of every Blue Zone diet on the planet, from black beans in Nicoya, to lentils, chickpeas and white beans in the Mediterranean, and soybeans in Okinawa.

Blue Zone people eat as much as four times the amount of beans as those in most developed countries, on average.

7. Slash sugar

Blue Zone centenarians only eat confectionery during celebrations. Skip any product in which sugar is among the first five ingredients and limit treats to 100 calories, such as a couple of squares of dark chocolate, or a handful of dried fruit.

Seven added teaspoons of sugar a day should be the maximum. Watch for low-fat products that are sugar-sweetened to make up for a lack of fat.

Blue Zones diets include at most seven added teaspoons of sugar a day.

8. Nibble on nuts

Aim to eat two handfuls of nuts a day, which is about the average eaten in a Blue Zones diet.

Almonds are eaten in Ikaria and Sardinia, pistachios in Nicoya, and Loma Lindans eat all kinds of nuts.

A Harvard study showed that nut eaters have a 20 per cent lower mortality rate than non-nut eaters.

9. Sourdough or wholemeal bread

Most commercial breads are based on bleached white flour, which metabolises quickly into sugar – making for empty calories.

Traditional Blue Zones breads are made with wholegrains such as wheat, pumpernickel, rye and barley; or sourdough – breads that are made with a naturally occurring bacteria that creates products with less gluten and a longer shelf.

10. Favour whole foods

Most of the planet’s centenarians eat whole foods – food that is not processed at all, or processed minimally (such as tofu from soybeans). They mostly eat them raw, cooked or ground.

Blue Zones’ recipes tend to contain half a dozen or so ingredients simply blended together, or that have been fermented or pickled. As a result, the long-lived rarely ingest artificial preservatives.

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COCOBOD optimistic of recovering over GH₵7m locked up investment in defunct GN Bank.

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The Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) believes it could recover over GH₵7 million in investment locked up in the defunct GN Bank.

Appearing before the Public Accounts Committee on Tuesday, Deputy Chief Executive Officer of COCOBOD, Ray Ankrah disclosed that COCOBOD has accepted the defunct bank’s liability, validated its asset and it is hopeful of recovering its investment.

“We have validated it, liability has been accepted. There has not been any indication suggesting that they cannot pay or something, so it is not a capacity issue we think, it’s a timing issue.“Mr. Chairman, we remain hopeful,” he told the Committee.

The Cocoa Research Institute of Ghana in 2015 invested GH₵7.5 million in the name of Provident and Rent Funds with the GN bank.

The GN Bank collapsed following the banking sector clean-up with individuals and organisations, including government institutions bearing the brunt of having investment funds unrecovered.

The 2020 report of the Auditor-General on the Public Accounts of Ghana – Public Boards, Corporations, and other Statutory Institutions, however, revealed that the investment was locked up due to the liquidation of the bank.

‘’Our review of the Institute’s investment portfolio file disclosed that an amount totalling GH¢7,472,504.22 in the name of Provident and Rent Funds invested since 2015 with GN Bank have been locked up due to the liquidation of the bank,” the A-G’s report noted.

The report added that COCOBOD could lose the amount involved if stringent measures are not taken to recover the same.

Meanwhile, the Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, James Klutse Avedzi is uncertain if such an amount could be recovered.

“You know that the receiver will only be able to raise the money through the sale of the properties of the company. If they are not able to lay their hands on any asset of the company and dispose of, they will not be able to raise the money to pay…I have my doubts that this banking sector clean-up has brought a lot to individuals and even the government itself,” he said at the Committee hearing on Tuesday, January 31, 2023.

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‘Mission 1 for 200’ initiative is to build food resilience in Africa – AfDB and IFAD.

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The African Development Bank Group (AfDB) and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) have agreed to establish an initiative to enhance investment for the agriculture and food sectors in the private sector in Africa.

The initiative called ‘Mission 1 for 200’ is expected to increase resilience by assisting food systems and farmers in adapting to climate change and lowering agriculture’s negative environmental effects and emissions.

Through the application of cutting-edge, climate-smart technologies and advice, agricultural productivity is also anticipated to double.

The initiative will work to bring greater investment to fragile regions that are disproportionately impacted by climate change and often deemed “too risky”.

It will also increase funding to the agriculture and food sectors.

According to a statement seen by JoyNews, in order to encourage improved and climate-adapted production as well as value-adding, Mission 1 for 200 will leverage the private sector, de-risk, and unlock additional private investment.

Along with providing delivery models that analyze supply chain structures for services that increase the productivity and profitability of smallholder farmers, the effort will aim to create an environment that is supportive of food systems and will support policy development in this area.

“The initiative will also work to build the enabling and policy environment for food systems and provide delivery models that analyse supply chain structures for providing services that improve the productivity and profitability of smallholder farmers” parts of the statement read.

On the eve of the Africa Food Summit on “Food Sovereignty and Resilience,” AfDB President Dr. Akinwumi Adesina and IFAD President Dr. Alvaro Lario signed a statement of intent formalizing their collaboration.

They want to increase funding for the agriculture and food industries.

African presidents of state, ministers of agriculture and finance, governors of central banks, business executives, farmer organizations, and development partners came together at the summit to mobilize high-level political will and financial resources for food and agriculture delivery compacts.

The goal of the Africa Food Summit in Dakar, which began on Wednesday and ended on Friday, is to improve support for the agricultural and food industries.

It also mobilized high-level political will and financial resources for food and agriculture delivery compacts.

According to AfDB President Mr Adesina, Mission 1 for 200 will offer considerable financial support to African nations.

The initiative, he said, will also inspire policy changes, and tap into co-financing opportunities through collaboration with other development partners, drawing on the expertise of both institutions.

“This landmark initiative will foster innovative agricultural ventures to boost food production, enhance efficiency within a framework of enhanced market dynamics and sustainable food systems and spur policy changes,” Mr Adesina added.

According to IFAD President Lario, only investments in agriculture that aided small-scale farmers could help Africa escape its worrying downward spiral of crisis after crisis.

He noted that strategic investments will increase agricultural output, foster food sovereignty, and open doors for everyone by facilitating a more equal distribution of food and access to it.

‘Mission 1 for 200’, he explained, will raise additional funding from creative and unconventional donor sources as well as private sector investors by leveraging the contributions made by both IFAD and the African Development Bank Group.

In order to treat green money and climate funds as a long-term supportive solution, the project will build on the momentum around climate adaptation and mitigation.

Other development partners are encouraged to participate and contribute to Mission 1 for 200.

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‘Planting for Food and Jobs’ is a completely failed project – Senyo Hosi.

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Former CEO of the Chamber of Bulk Oil Distributors, Senyo Hosi has slammed President Nana Akufo-Addo and his government over the state of Ghana’s agriculture sector.

Speaking to Kwami Sefa Kayi on Peace FM’s morning show “Kokrokoo”, Mr. Senyo Hosi stated emphatically that the President’s ‘Planting for Food and Jobs’ policy aimed at improving the agriculture sector has failed abysmally.

all these years, show me one agriculture sector that has been well-structured. It’s zero,” he exclaimed.

To him, it shouldn’t be difficult for the government to develop the agriculture infrastructue to assist farmers to be productive and to check the nation’s dependence on foreign imports.

“How much irrigated fields do we have? Have we invested in our irrigated fields to march our needs as a country?

But when you look at the billions we have spent on this Planting for Food and Jobs which we can’t see any particular thing that’s sustaining the industry. I think that it’s a failed project. It’s a totally failed project.”

Mr. Senyo Hosi asked the government to concentrate more of her efforts on improving the agric sector which he believes is the country’s engine of progress.

“We have the capacity to progressively grow and then eventually fully supply Ghana. It’s possible for us to feed our own self,” he stated.

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Why Climate-Smart Agriculture is so important for smallholder farmers.

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Enabling farmers to adopt climate-smart approaches to farming helps build more sustainable food systems that protect the environment, improve smallholder livelihoods, and create new business opportunities. This is critically important as the world grapples with the combined challenges of climate change and economic crisis.

Climate-smart agriculture helps farmers adapt their farming practices with the goals of:

Increasing their harvests

Building their resilience in the face of climate-related shocks

Reducing their impact on the environment

For the smallholder farmers One Acre Fund works with, climate-smart agriculture includes the introduction of farming methods like composting, mulching, crop diversification and intercropping and box ridges and furrows to capture run-off and keep moisture in the soil – all techniques that help maintain and boost yields while tackling land degradation and improving soil health . Our approach to climate-smart agriculture also champions optimized planting trainings that encourage strategic tree planting and farming drought-resistant crops.

Malawian farmer Handson John has been enrolled with One Acre Fund for five years, growing maize, soya, pigeon peas, ground nuts, and pumpkins. Last year, he experienced climate change-induced extreme weather conditions that caused him to lose half his crop. Despite that, he says he feels encouraged about the next season, because of the new climate-smart practices One Acre Fund recently taught him.

“Making and using compost and planting trees help retain moisture in the soil. I have grown trees before, but compost is new to me. I usually plant with boxed ridges to save soil moisture. It’s a beneficial tactic, especially when there’s drought.”

Building household resilience

Smallholders like Handson contribute significantly to feeding their communities. With the right resources, they can not only produce more, but also higher quality crops.

Learn more about how we’re helping smallholders adopt climate-smart agriculture:

Diversification

Crop diversification increases the number of different crops grown simultaneously, raising productivity and profits by reducing production costs. It also protects against commodity price fluctuations associated with farming one crop, and provides resilience to highly variable weather conditions.

This year in Malawi, we introduced “winter” beans to our offerings as part of a crop diversification trial. Typically smallholders in Malawi, who mostly depend on rain to water their fields, are only able to farm during one season of the year. However, during the winter months, portions of the country at higher elevations receive enough moisture to grow crops like beans through mist and light rains, and less of the moisture evaporates during the colder temperature months. Beans are also well suited for rotation farming with crops like maize, and produce root nodules that fix nitrogen into the soil, which improves soil health.

“I was motivated to do winter cropping because I can sell the beans during a different season, providing me with an extra source of income. The beans are also more tolerant to the weather when compared to maize.”

Composting

Another helpful practice is composting, which recycles organic matter, such as leaves and livestock waste, into valuable manure. Good composting helps restore soil nutrients, and can also help mitigate the impact of droughts by helping retain soil moisture.

In Kenya this year, it has been drier than usual for Julius Ilamiya; the rains came late and were insufficient. “I was trained to make and use compost which helps with soil moisture retainment, enabling the crop to perform well despite reduced rainfall,” Julius says. “My neighbors can’t understand why my farm is doing so well, but I share my knowledge with anyone interested.”

Tree planting

Shifting from crop-only farms to farms that include trees (a practice known as agroforestry) enhances farm resilience by preventing soil erosion, improving water absorption, and raising productivity.

Another Malawian farmer, Lucy Ngungu, says she bore out the difficult 2022 cropping season by adopting the ‘future farm’ method that we’re encouraging farmers to adopt — this method emphasizes combining practices such as intercropping, rotation farming, agroforestry, and composting.

“I planted trees to restore soil fertility and preserve moisture; tree leaves also help with composting. I learned how to use maize stalks and intercropping to boost production. The future farm method improves soil fertility. I now know that maize crops do well with some trees.”

Closing knowledge and funding gaps

We know that climate-smart agriculture provides a path to more resilient, responsive agriculture. And more resilient, responsive agriculture is critical if we’re to achieve both food security and more sustainable food systems in our lifetimes. But we need far more investment here. Currently only 1.7% of global climate finance currently targets smallholders (IFAD) even though there are 608 million smallholder farms feeding billions of people around the world (FAO).

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Africa will outperform the world in economic growth, AfDB projects.

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Projections show that Africa’s real gross domestic product will stabilize at 4% over 2023–24, then grow at consistently higher rates than other regions.

We may earn a commission from links on this page.In the inaugural release of a report dubbed ‘Africa’s Macroeconomic Performance and Outlook’ released on Jan.19, the African Development Bank Group reported that “growth across all five African regions was positive in 2022 and the outlook for 2023–24 is projected to be stable.”

The projections are higher than expected global figures (2.7% and 3.2% respectively) for the same period.

Africa’s top five performing economies before the covid-19 pandemic are expected to grow by over 5.5% on average in 2023-2024 and reclaim their position among the world’s ten fastest-growing economies.

Those include Rwanda, which is projected to grow by 7.9%, Côte d’Ivoire by 7.1%, Benin by 6.4%, Ethiopia by 6.0%, and Tanzania by 5.6%.

African countries that will experience positive economic growth

But there is a clutch of other African countries that are also expected to grow their economies by more than 5.5% in the same period. Those include Niger at 9,6%, Senegal at 9.4%, The Democratic Republic of Congo at 6.8%, The Gambia at 6.4%, Mozambique at 6.5% and Togo at 6.3%.

In east Africa, growth is projected to rise from 4.2% in 2022 to 5% in 2023 and 5.4% in 2024, with Rwanda leading the region.

Uganda and Ethiopia are also projected to grow strongly in 2023 and 2024, exceeding 5% due to developments in the oil sector for Uganda and continued infrastructure spending for Ethiopia.

Growth in west Africa is projected to rise from 3.6% in 2022 to 4.1% in 2023 and 4.3% in 2024, with Côte d’Ivoire and Senegal boosting the region’s growth.

Central and Southern Africa projections

Central Africa is projected to see a slight decline from 4.7% in 2022 to 4.3% in 2023 and to stabilize at 4.2% in 2024.

The southern African region, weighed down by economic woes in South Africa, has the lowest growth rates, despite standout performer, Mozambique.

“In the medium term, however, persistent weakness in South Africa will continue to weigh on the region, with real output projected to decelerate to 2.3% in 2023 before rising to 2.8% in 2024.”

Growth in the south will be primarily driven by Mozambique, which will see economic growth boosted by investment in liquefied natural gas and allied industries.

In northern Africa, growth is projected to stabilise at 4.3% in 2023, supported by an expected strong recovery in Libya and Morocco.

‘Africa is the place to invest’

Economist Jeffrey Sachs believes such trends show that “Africa can and will rise to a growth of 7% or more per year consistently in the coming decades.”

Africa will be the fast-growing part of the world economy. Africa is the place to invest,” he noted during the report’s launch.

According to Akinwumi Adesina, African Development Bank Group president, the overall steady growth witnessed across the board is commendable because it is seen despite “the pass-through effects of global shocks hitting hard and differing by region and by country.

”Like the rest of the world, Africa is significantly challenged by soaring food and energy prices, tighter global financial conditions, and increased domestic debt.

“Household Impacts of Tariffs, a survey, indicates, in 29 African countries, households spent on average 36.3% of their income on food items,” the report reads in part.

Effects of war in Ukraine

A similarly high burden is registered in the case of energy prices amidst supply cuts due to the Russia-Ukraine war.

“Crude oil prices increased by about 20%, from $93.50 per barrel to $112.40 and averaged $102.80 between March and October 2022,” the report reveals.

Amidst these challenges, the report calls for robust monetary and fiscal measures backed by structural policies to address potential risks.

With inflationary pressures anticipated to heighten between 2023 and 2024, the report recommends various measures depending on the degree of impact and vulnerability in individual countries.

In countries where inflation is most acute, timely and aggressive monetary policies are advised.“Countries with lower inflation will need to undertake cautious tightening of monetary policy so as not to undermine growth efforts while keeping inflation in check.”

African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA)

However, the report underscores the continent’s outstanding opportunities, mainly focusing on the need for countries to accelerate the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

According to the report, the AfCFTA has the potential to create a competitive continental market that will cushion the continent from multiple shocks.

The World Economic Forum projects a growth of 28% in intra-African freight demand thanks to AfCFTA, which will open up a need for nearly 2 million trucks, 100 000 rail wagons, 250 aircraft and more than 100 vessels by 2030.

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