Lusaka — Melissa Britz is reporting from Zambia at the African Green Revolution Forum (AGRF 2015), and spoke with Sylvia Mwichuli, the convener, about her expectations and hopes for the conference running from 29 September to 2 October 2015 in Lusaka. This year's theme is Walking the Talk on Youth and Women: Bringing Inclusive Agricultural Markets to Life.
During your briefing you spoke about the need to move from policy to action in terms of the role of women and youth. Please elaborate.
One thing that is very interesting to note is that over the last two years the issue of agriculture and particularly women in agriculture has become a very sexy subject. So every policymaker who wants to talk about changing policy in the agricultural arena will always talk about women and youth.
However there is a big divide between the policy pronouncements and the actual practice on the ground. So you will find there is growing interest in people wanting to talk about how to deal with the youth bulge and how they want to make agriculture better for women but in reality women and youth in Africa are still farming as their forefathers did. We are still using hoes and very outdated methodologies and yet the government's give the impression that they are actually dealing with this issue.
So this conference is going to address what it is that is deterring us as a continent from actually walking the talk. We know what needs to be done, there's no question about it. We have talked ourselves to death on what needs to be done. This meeting is going to be giving recommendations on the things that need to be done to get us out of this situation.
You mentioned the need to address the tough questions that need to be asked. What are those key issues?
First of all, what are the critical policy changes that we need as African nations to really make a difference. What investments need to be made in terms of finance and why is it that despite the fact that our government's committed to the AU's The Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) 10 years ago, that only about eight to 10 governments have actually fulfilled those commitments. What is it that is constraining us from putting our money where our mouth is?
If indeed agriculture is the livelihood for 85% of our population why can't we put just 10% of our budgets towards this important sector. Thirdly the critical question that we need to ask ourselves is if agriculture is indeed the future … then why is it that we cannot put our money behind it. The thing that I find most interesting is that despite the fact that agriculture plays a very big role in terms of Africa's livelihood and wellbeing governments are just not committed to making this happen.
You spoke about some of the successes here in Zambia, and that it could serves as model to other countries in terms of transforming the agricultural sector.
We have chosen to come to Zambia because this country has demonstrated in action that a green revolution can happen if a government is committed and determined to do it.
Zambia has been able to do two things. One it has been able to increase productivity and is now a net exporter of a lot of the staple foods, particularly maize. Zambia is now exporting across the continent and is becoming much sought after in terms of countries that are looking for grain to import.
Secondly, Zambia has been able to figure out the issue of markets, because if you don't sort out the issue of markets and you just increase productivity, your farmers will be very a disappointed lot. And I think we saw an example a few years ago in Malawi. So we really think Zambia has a success story to tell. They are able to feed themselves and they are able to export. And secondly, are able to find the right markets for the product so that the farmers are selling their produce at the right price and not feeling like they are being shortchanged.
Prospective agri-entrepreneurs often speak about the challenges of accessing investment will this meeting address that at all?
I think investment in agriculture is very critical and one thing that we are very concerned about is that even today many of the commercial banks in Africa less than one percent of their loan book is actually spent on agriculture. They still feel that agriculture is not bankable and agriculture is too risky.
So one of the things we are hoping to get out of this meeting is to grow the interest of the banking sector and we have we have lots of financial banks coming. We are also looking at how we can leverage government resources, for example resources held by central banks, so that we can enhance investments in agriculture.
The fact of the matter is that there is plenty of money to invest in agriculture, what is lacking is political will and willingness to do it. For example Equity Bank has clearly indicated that farmers are bankable and yet thousands of banks across this continent are still afraid to lend to farmers. I actually believe that there is enough money, what is lacking is just that political will to actually get it done.
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We have just seen the adoption of the 17Sustainable Development Goals. Do you think that agriculture is sufficiently addressed especially in the light of climate change and the upcoming climate talks at COP21?
It's great that in the 17 goals the issue of agriculture is very clearly spelt out and the importance of climate-smart agriculture. However as the governments head towards COP21 it is very important to recognise the fact that for Africa when you talk about climate change, you're talking about agriculture.
Therefore as they deliberate on the recommendations that are going to come out of COP, they really need to make specific recommendations on how to deal with the challenges faced in the agriculture sector as a result of climate change. Many areas around Africa are experiencing serious drought and climate change is making it really difficult for farmers to even fulfil their potential. Hence there's a very important reason why governments must focus their attention on African agriculture as an important part of the discussion at the climate talks, at the moment this discussion has been very limited. In fact its been non-existent, so we're hoping that this time round as some have said there will be no deal if they do not deal with this issue of agriculture in Africa.
