Loading...
Please wait, while we are loading the content...
Similar Documents
Agricultural Productivity and Food Security in Sub-Saharan Africa
| Content Provider | Semantic Scholar |
|---|---|
| Author | Muzari, Washington |
| Copyright Year | 2016 |
| Abstract | In sub-Saharan Africa, agriculture is the principal source of wealth and poverty reduction. In sub-Saharan African countries, agriculture is essential for economic growth, which is in turn necessary to reduce poverty and food insecurity. Unfortunately, the performance of agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa has not been up to expectations and has been characterized over the decades by ups and downs. The rural population has been unable to move out of poverty and food insecurity principally because they have not been able to transform their basic economic activity which is agriculture. Notably, productivity is still way below the region’s yield potentials, agricultural mechanization is weak and declining, and the size of the agri-business industry is still nascent. Because the agricultural sector (taken in its widest sense to include crops, livestock, fisheries and forest products) is the only source of food, food security is dependent on the performance of the agricultural sector. For this reason, interventions to increase food security are primarily directed to the agricultural sector. Under the right conditions, agricultural growth underpinned by productivity gains can reduce poverty and food insecurity far more effectively than can growth in the rest of the economy. Expansion of cultivated land in many sub-Saharan African countries has been constrained by physical access, insecure land tenure, limited access to animal and mechanical power, and reduced availability of labour because of migration, competition from off-farm activities, and communicable diseases such as HIV/AIDS. Productivity has remained low because of under-utilization of water resources, limited fertilizer use, limited use of soil fertility management practices, and weak services (research, extension, finance). Recurrent droughts, plagues and related increased risks have discouraged investment in agriculture that is indispensable for raising agricultural productivity. Malfunctioning and inefficient markets (largely due to a frail private sector in most countries), insufficient investment in infrastructure, high transportation costs, weak information systems and a poor regulatory framework have hampered poor remuneration of producers and deterred and incapacitated them from investing and specializing in high-value products. Producer prices have remained low and highly volatile, and there are no mechanisms that can help minimize or share the risks borne by producers. Sufficient efforts should be made in linking production with markets. Strengthening linkages between production and input and output markets cuts the transactions costs of producers, thus improving the profitability of their enterprises and the competitiveness of sub-Saharan Africa’s agricultural products in international markets. It also provides producers with additional resources to invest in sustainable intensification. Stabilization of prices is an important factor for encouraging private investment and for making agriculture an engine for growth and a basis for a solid and diversified economic growth. |
| File Format | PDF HTM / HTML |
| DOI | 10.21275/v5i1.23011601 |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | https://www.ijsr.net/archive/v5i1/23011601.pdf |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | https://doi.org/10.21275/v5i1.23011601 |
| Language | English |
| Access Restriction | Open |
| Content Type | Text |
| Resource Type | Article |
