gepubliceerd op 2010-02-05 00:00:00.0
“If Africa wants to feed itself and become one of the agricultural exporting countries, than we need an African Green Revolution”, the former secretary-general of the UN, Kofi Annan, said, during his visit to Wageningen UR. Such a revolution can work if it is embedded in the African standards, researchers from Wageningen think. They had a rewarding meeting with Annan.
“Our Green Revolution has to include an extensive support programme for the small African farmers. It has to be based upon the enormous African diversity and protect it as well: our situation, crops and farming systems,” so Annan says. Annan is a shepherd of AGRA, Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa, an organisation that came into existence a couple of years ago, when Annan was still secretary-general of the United Nations. In the meantime AGRA has developed programme’s concerning seed improvement, soil fertility, water management, chain research and agricultural education. Since his departure at the UN, Annan travels the world to find partners and co-financiers for ‘his’ initiative.
He also debated with five Afica-specialists from Wageningen about topics varying from agricultural entrepreneurship and sustainable soil use to combating viruses that harm humans and animals. Kofi Annan then spoke about poor fertilization supplies. “African farmers use only ten percent of the total amount of fertilizers that famers use all over the world”, Annan said. This is partly due to the price of artificial manure, that is six times higher in the inlands of Africa, than it its globally. It is therefore time that the African countries start to work together and buy large quantities of manure for a low price, he reasoned. “In the long run, governments have to infest in infrastructure for a better distribution of the manure, so it will be available and affordable for small farmers as well.” He tries to stimulate the Western fertilizing industry into investments in African countries. He would also support extra investments in good seeds to improve the productivity of the African agriculture.
It is important to consider the local situation, in these kind of decisions; Wagenignen definitely agrees with Annan on this. The continent shows a range of production circumstances, with, in the words of the secretary-general, a ‘high diversity’ of soils, availability of water, type of famers and crops. ‘Thé African agriculture does not exist; you first have to consider: which farmer are we talking about?” says Ken Giller, who mapped production systems of eight African countries. The academic professor of Plant Production Systems of Wageningen University found different results on a small and local scale. “On the maize fields of Kenia we saw huge differences. The maize close to the house of the farmer was in good condition; far away from the house the crops hardly grew. Close to its home, the farmer had maintained the soil very well, with animal faeces; further away from the house he had hardly done this. Artificial manure can be used on the well-maintained soils, since best results are obtained when the manure is applied together with animal droppings. On poorer soils, that often constitute more than half of the farmer’s grounds, this combination will not work. The soil has to be improved first. “The point that I want to make is: within a hundred meter, on exactly the same field, you will need different strategies.” Giller hopes for a step-by-step increase in production, enabling the farmers to invest in for example artificial manure.
Annan expressed his compliments to Wageningen UR for corporating with African partners and focussing on the smaller farmers, because ‘many well intended attempts to stimulate the production of African companies have failed, because solutions were offered without any partnership with the farmers themselves.” In the projects of AGRA Annan continuously tries to form coalitions with governments, universities, agricultural organisations, sponsors and private companies.
