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A report by Boston Consulting Group shows that policy innovations that focus on the demand rather than the supply side can effectively transform Africa’s food systems.
Africa’s long-standing food crisis, worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic and, increasingly, by climate change, threatens to have dire consequences. Up to 650 million Africans—50% of the continent’s population— lack economic or physical access to sufficient food to meet their minimum needs every day. In planning to transform the continent’s food systems, a shift in focus from supply to demand is necessary, according to a new report Transforming Africa’s Food Systems From The Demand Side from Boston Consulting Group (BCG).
Agriculture accounts for a quarter of the continent’s GDP, and in sub-Saharan Africa it provides work for almost 60% of the population. The report recommends viewing the food economy as a system and taking a systematic approach to understanding and addressing its complex challenges. It also proposes five steps Africa’s policymakers can take to transform the continent’s food systems.
The world relies on sustainable agriculture, resilient supply chains, and the availability of healthy food. However, supply efforts too often focus on reasoning such as ‘if farmers grow it, consumers will buy it’ that doesn’t deliver sustainable results. Starting with demand is more likely to trigger the production of the right kinds of food by the right farmers for the right markets in an environmentally sustainable way. Chris Mitchell_BCG Nairobi
Zoe Karl-Waithaka_BCG Nairobi For too long, most policy interventions on the continent have targeted the supply side of the food economy. It’s easy to see why: supply-side measures lead to economic policies, budgetary allocations, and aid flows that have an immediate impact on large numbers of rural people.
“Targeting supply hasn’t produced satisfactory solutions to many of the varied and interconnected challenges that Africa’s food system faces. We have been studying Africa’s food systems for over a decade, and our studies show that a shift in focus is essential,” says Chris Mitchell, Managing Director and Partner at Boston Consulting Group, Nairobi.
In fact, the continent’s food supply may face a demand problem, with its current structure incapable of stimulating the crop selection, farm productivity, and infrastructure development necessary to achieve sustainable growth. Agriculture policy would deliver better results in Africa if it started by triggering demand differently, valuing consumers’ nutrition and health as much as it does farmers’ incomes.
Shifting the transformation focus from supply to demand
Rebuilding food demand and distribution is an indirect process that calls for more-sophisticated policies and tax incentives, different infrastructure, and the involvement of businesses and consumers as well as farmers. It will require additional investments in increasing productivity, enabling policies for the private sector, and creating a suitable distribution infrastructure, such as cold chains, across the continent.
Even so, starting with demand is more likely to trigger the end-to-end changes that African agriculture needs.
“Focusing on demand will result in new roles for the actors in Africa’s food system. The private sector will have a bigger part to play in the future; as the most structurally scalable and sustainable part of the food system, it must grow rapidly to catalyse change,” says Zoë Karl-Waithaka, Partner at Boston Consulting Group, Nairobi.
The public sector will have to create the enabling environment for the transformation, investing in agricultural R&D and the infrastructure needed to
move goods from farms to consumers and ports. Additionally, different regions and countries must step up their cooperation to ensure that they achieve the right outcomes across the continent.
Understanding the system of challenges
The food sector doesn’t work in a linear way, so ensuring a sufficient level of output alone can’t address all the economic, social, health, and environmental imbalances in Africa’s food system. Only a systemic approach can adequately address the system’s complex challenges, from rural poverty and water scarcity to rising global temperatures and declining biodiversity.
The report examines conceiving the food economy as a system consisting of five elements: economics, nutrition, society, environment, and— underlying all of these—policy. Using the systems lens to analyse Africa’s food problems reveals the numerous connections between the issues at stake. For example, too many people work on the land because other kinds of employment opportunities are hard to find. Without a structural economic shift, countries’ agriculture sector will have to employ tens of millions of people— especially young people (below 25 years of age), who make up most of the population in Nigeria (63%), Kenya (60%), Tanzania (63%), Ghana (56%), and many other countries in the region. Tackling the continent’s gender gap in agriculture should be another priority. In sub-Saharan Africa, half of all impoverished smallholder farmers are women. If they are economically empowered, their productivity and incomes will rise, and they will find the means to prevent malnutrition in their children. When viewed through the systems lens, the continent’s real problems and opportunities come into sharper focus.
Five steps for transforming Africa’s food systems
The report provides five steps policymakers must take simultaneously to address these challenges from the demand side: growing industrial demand for agricultural produce, using food processing companies as change agents, diversifying the continent’s demand for food, creating a global market for grown-in-Africa agricultural products, and crafting demand-led agrarian policies. For example, nearly 40% of the food grown in sub-Saharan Africa perishes before it reaches consumers. Food processing companies, more than any other entities, can influence what farmers grow and what consumers eat.
Unless the continent’s food system is transformed, countries will never be able to boost agricultural output and economic growth in a sustainable fashion.
Fortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic is forcing Africa to plan differently for the future, creating an opportunity to experiment with bold change initiatives. “Policy innovations can effectively mitigate the negative impact of the current crisis, bolster food security, and transform Africa’s agriculture in the long-term,” says Mitchell.
FDA and IFAD join hands to promote food security and sustainable agriculture in the Republic of The Gambia
The French Development Agency (AFD) and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) has signed a €7 million grant agreement to support the implementation of the project “Resilience of Organizations for Transformative Smallholder Agriculture” (ROOTS). The project aims to improve food security, nutrition and smallholder farmers’ resilience to climate change in The Gambia.
The signing ceremony will take place in Banjul, in the presence of Mr. Hassan Jallow, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry Of Agriculture ; His Excellency Philippe LALLIOT, Ambassador of France in Senegal and The Gambia ; Haoua SIENTA, IFAD Country Director for The Gambia ; and Mrs. Sophie DERUDDER, Deputy director of the AFD regional agency of Dakar. The Gambian government is represented by its Ministry of Agriculture, designated as the executing agency of the project. The project aims to increase agricultural productivity, enhance access to markets for agricultural products, and raise support family farms and farmer organizations. With a total cost of US$ 80.59 million, in addition to the AFD grant ROOTS is co-financed by IFAD (US$ 21.27 million), the OPEC Fund for International Development (US$10 million), the Global Environment Fund (US$ 5.3 million), the Government of The Gambia (US$5.41 million) and the beneficiaries themselves (US$6.25 million). An additional financing source will be identified to fit the US$20.6 million.
Agriculture is the principal source of livelihood for the rural population. It provides employment for approximately 70% of the population but contributes only 24% of the GDP. Rural poverty, food insecurity and malnutrition are closely associated with low agricultural productivity, which affects the most vulnerable groups, namely women and youth. The project is taking place in a context of high food insecurity in The Gambia, which remains heavily dependent on food imports. In 2014 the national rice development strategy emphasized that only 17% of the annual consumption of rice comes from the national production, whereas it is the staple food of the population. This low rate of coverage of national rice needs justifies the priority given by the government to the development of the rice sector, as well as the objective set in the National Development Plan (2018-2021) of achieving selfsufficiency in rice.
Addressing these major challenges on food security, the project will be implemented in the 5 rural regions of The Gambia, and will reach 40,000 farming households, corresponding to 320,000 people (14% of the population). In February 2018, at the International Donors’ conference in Brussels, France committed to grant € 50 million in support to The Gambia. With this new funding, the AFD portfolio in The Gambia now totals € 32.5 million in grants. By further concretizing France’s commitment to its Gambian partners, this additional project is in line with the priorities defined by the Government of the Republic of the Gambia.
Since 1982, IFAD has financed 11 rural development programmes and projects in The Gambia for a total cost of US$ 288.13 million, with an IFAD investment of US$113.53 million, directly benefiting 195,069 rural households.
Massey Ferguson launches the MF 3300 narrow-width tractor for the orchard and vineyard market for South Africa
Latest technology makes the MF 3300 ideal for modern orchard-farming techniques such as skip passing
The South African citrus industry is anticipated to shatter all export season records with an estimated 158.7 million cartons in 2021, according to the Citrus Growers’ Association of Southern Africa (CGA). If this target is achieved, it will represent a third consecutive season of record export volumes. “The demand for these sorts commodities is increasing on an international scale that is likely to see more significant South African participation from a sustainability point of view,” comments Ryan Clark, Product Marketing Manager, Low Horse Power, Africa at AGCO Corporation.
The export boom has resulted in many farmers considering switching to orchard-type operations, focusing on lucrative crops such as nuts, avocados, citrus, apples and grapes, to name but a few. “South Africa has the requisite climate, and while not a major competitor yet compared to well-established markets such as the European Union, we are well on our way to being a force to be reckoned with. You only have to consider how many farmers are now considering switching to orchard-type farms. Traditional grain farmers in the North West and Northern Cape are investing in nut production, with a similar scenario for citrus farming in Mpumalanga, Limpopo and the Eastern Cape,” points out Clark.
This has resulted in an increased focus on advanced farming methods such as skip passing, in combination with the latest-technology narrowwidth tractors, so as to optimise orchard and vineyard operations. In keeping with this trend, Massey Ferguson is introducing the MF 3300 series, the latest iteration, based on the heritage of the popular, robust and reliable MF 400 Xtra Narrow tractor models from Brazil. While the front axle, transmission and rear linkage are almost identical to the old MF 435 Xtra and MF 440 Xtra narrow-width tractors, the MF 3300 Series features a brand-new AGCO Power 3.3 litre three-cylinder engine as opposed to the traditional third-party engine manufacturer.
“This is a 100% AGCO product, with a very long heritage and the added benefit of incorporating the latest AGCO Power engine technology,” explains Clark. Indeed, what makes the MF 3300 unique in the South African market as an orchard tractor is that it is Stage 3 emissions-compliant and features a common rail with an electronic control unit (ECU) to monitor all fuel and air parameters. An engine memory function means that, at the press of a button, a preset engine revolution can be engaged, which translates into a more consistent application and less wear-andtear on the drive-line, linkage and implements.
“There are a lot of benefits associated with ECU technology as opposed to the traditional lever- or cable-operated throttles,” notes Clark. The ECU is coupled with a mini dashboard computer providing a real-time readout of hourly fuel consumption. In terms of price point, the technology incorporated in the MF 3300 not only makes it highly affordable, but extremely competitive in terms of specification and scope for the South African market.
The MF 3300 Series is available in an open station and cab model, ideal for farming operations looking to comply with export regulations. The cab is designed for maximum visibility and safety with easy access controls that are very simple to operate efficiently. Comfort is ensured with air-conditioning as standard, and incoming air passes through a cab air filter.
