Tucungwirwe Rwamutega
23 April 2008
opinion
Kampala — LIKE in most countries, the prices of basic foods such as rice, beans and milk have risen by more than 50%. In Egypt, Indonesia, Ivory Coast, Mauritania, Mozambique, Senegal, Burkina Faso and Cameroon, there have been protests over food and fuel prices.
Analysts are blaming this on high fuel prices, booming consumption of food in increasingly wealthy Asia, the use of crops for biofuels and speculation on future markets.
The Food and Agricultural Organisation is warning of tense times ahead because the shortage of basic commodities and high prices are expected to continue.
There are only eight to 12 weeks of cereal stocks in the world and grain supplies are at their lowest since the 1980s, according to the UNâ-àfood agency. Sub-Saharan Africa, the poorest part of the world, still relies on a nature-based agricultural economy and for a big population on food handouts, must be very fast in adjusting to the needs of this crisis.
Where do we go? We must go to our gardens to increase production and turn high food prices into profits.
The intervention options could include improving the productivity of farmers. Most of the farmers in Africa practice subsistence farming. In Uganda, subsistence farmers comprise of more than 80% of the agriculture sector. The productivity of farmers must be improved.
This can be done through the Household Agricultural Transformation Plans (HATPs) model, which emphasises planned and calculated farming and household extended agricultural extension services.
Through HATPs, good quality seeds, affordable irrigation technologies to farmers can easily be delivered. It also promotes the use of fertilisers in farming. Africa currently accounts for only 2% of world fertiliser consumption. When South Africa is excluded from the index, the sub-Saharan countries account for less than 1% of world fertiliser consumption.
Population growth should be controlled. The traditional Ugandan family of 7-10 children must be reduced. These families are not sustainable under capitalism. We should use a family income thresholds approach to achieve sustainable family sizes.
We should set income qualification for each birth. For example, we can pass a law stating that a couple should not produce more than three children if they do not have income of more than $200,000 per year.
Through such interventions of agricultural productivity improvement and population control, Africa will turn the current global food crisis into food profits.
The writer is a researcher at the Development Research Centre
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