Designing the Future and
Development of Agriculture in Africa
Until it works for women, it
doesn’t work™
There
is a lot of rhetoric and activity driven by the different agricultural
interests in Africa. We seem to have taken a piecemeal approach to our
development. Some of us are advocates for gender equality, others advocates of
technology, others still, advocates of climate issues. It is of great
importance that agriculture professionals and activists begin to recognize that
agriculture in Africa is one single organism, one in which every piece is
significant, and must be addressed as it relates to the others. There are
pressing issues today if we must achieve sustainable agriculture in Africa:
gender equality, robust extension services, the ageing of agriculture, to name
a few. This write-up will discuss a position that proposes a system that
incorporates the different interests and aspects into one continuous whole.
Gender Equality
Women
have been referred to as the “pillars of African Agriculture.” There are
sources that indicate that women represent as much as 90% of farmers in
Africa. Yet, there is ample evidence that they
continue to be marginalized.
The
obstacles faced by women are cultural, legal, educational, and economic.
Cultural factors include customs that prevent women from owning or inheriting
property, customs that prevent a woman from directly interfacing with a man who
is not her spouse, or a relative. When a woman is prevented from ever owning
property, it represents a permanent bar on that woman’s ability to elevate
herself and her family economically, or to ever become an owner of her own
farm. Even when a woman is able to own her own farm, if her culture prevents
her from interfacing with men who are not related to her, she will immediately
be at a disadvantage in receiving extension services, since majority of
extension workers, as few as they are, are of the male species.
Legal
barriers exist where African communities are under different laws that regulate
how long women can work, which type of work they may perform, and in whose
company they could do it. In addition, in communities where customary
inheritance laws negatively impact the women, many of the courts and
legislatures have not caught up with intervening. Moreover, it is highly
unlikely that a woman who is uneducated, and still struggling to feed will have
the knowledge or the wherewithal to stand up and fight, even when there are
national laws that favor her. There is a higher level of illiteracy among women
farmers in Africa, and this is a crucial factor in their access to,
comprehension and utilization of agricultural information and services.
All
the factors discussed above contribute to women farmers’ economic difficulties
and constraints. Most of these constraints are systemic. They will need to be
addressed systemically. One of the ways
to begin to dismantle the constraints include information. It includes
information that bypasses the traditional obstacles, going directly to the
women farmers.
Extension Services
If
women are the pillars of African agriculture, then extension services
constitute the lifeline of African agriculture. Agricultural extension is a
vital and indispensable mechanism by which information and advice can be
delivered to the farmer. In much of Africa, this very important component is
grossly lacking. The rudimentary history of extension services in Africa predates
1914, where in the then Gold Coast, instruction on agriculture was given in
government-assisted schools and some agricultural stations. Today, agricultural extension is not filling
the gap that it should. There is a dearth of quality resources, and a severe
shortage of agricultural extension officers. It has been estimated that in
Africa, there is one extension worker for 4,000
farmers, compared to one for 200 hundred farmers in developed countries. In
an FAO study in 2005, an evaluation of extension resources in some areas of
agriculture in different parts of Africa described the training and support
provided to extension agents as “low quality.”
The best of the educational materials were produced by international
bodies.
Therefore,
regardless of the research breakthroughs, new resources and technology, timely
troubleshooting cannot be available to the average farmer in Africa without the
conduit of the agricultural extension services and personnel.
The
implication of this to the cause of women farmers in Africa is that they are on
their own, especially when the systemic, cultural, educational, and economic
constraints are present. The average woman in agriculture is therefore
isolated, without meaningful recourse.
Even
if there were more agricultural extension workers, there would not be enough of
them to travel the wide expanse of the African terrain. There are challenges
that go beyond the scope of agriculture, such as travelling, language, local
customs, and funding. Judging by the need to reach the women where they are,
literally and figuratively, it is highly important to seek solutions that
circumvent some of these constraints. The solutions must address the issue of
quality of resources, travelling, language barriers, local customs, and funding.
Today’s solution to the information barrier is technology.
Technology
in African Agriculture
The attempt to utilize technology is not new in African
agriculture. The materials provided by international organizations have often
required some form of technological audio visual device such as slides, films,
and projectors. These have been of limited use in rural Africa, and they never
did belong to the farmer, nor did the average woman have direct and ongoing
access to such materials and information. The supply of the materials and
information lasted only as long as the funding lasted, with no avenue to
further disseminate or update them. This points to the need for Africans to
begin to develop what will work for Africans.
Another issue with materials that are made outside of the
user’s location is that they are often planned and designed in the laboratory,
under ideal conditions. Therefore, they have reduced benefit when attempts are
made to implement them by the end user. They often cannot be used for “here and
now” situations that require direct answers to specific questions. In the
absence of knowledgeable and sufficient extension workers, there is a need to
utilize low tech resources in a manner that they would yield maximum results. These
resources must also be designed with a focus on the most isolated woman farmer.
Today, that technology is the telephone.
Out of Africa
It
is not arguable that the cellular phone is the most ubiquitous piece of
technology in Africa today. It will be foolhardy to develop an agricultural
extension program that does not utilize the phone. Even when a woman does not
have a personal cell phone, there is a high chance that she knows another woman
who does. The quickest way to reach her with information, usually in real time,
is the telephone.
A
robust and extensive use of telephone technology in agriculture in Africa is a
thing of the future, but it is a journey that we must embark on. With the rapid
rate of change today, the future of agriculture in Africa rests on extension
services, and the future of extension services rest on technology. We must
begin to design and plan for Africa by Africans. There are beginnings of such a
movement already.
It
is important to mention innovations such as the M-PESA in Kenya, the
application of the e-wallet in Nigeria. However, there are other innovations
that are developed by Africans, or with the African market in mind. Such is the
case of Su Kahumbu, who observed that cattle owners in her community were
losing money by selling below market rate, buying the wrong kind of feed, or
failing to breed their cows at the right time by missing the window of when the
cow was in heat. She designed an application through which the farmer could
receive advice, information about market rates, and other pertinent
information, all of which came directly to the farmer’s phone by text, without
any intermediary. More information can be found at http://www.icow.co.ke/
Another resource that is designed
for Africa, and that can be modified for wide usage in the continent, is an
animation video series produced by the University of Illinois about using neem seeds as a natural insecticide. The
animation video is rendered in a Nigerian accent, in English, and it uses
materials and artifacts, that are common to the African environment. The video
can be translated into any African language.
It can be found using this link: http://susdeviki.illinois.edu/SearchResultView.aspx?id=36&vid=1
One
cannot ignore the problem that many of the women farmers do not have personal
phones, or that when they do have phones, the phones can do no more than
receive calls and texts. This must not become a show-stopping barrier. The
resources must be prepared and available. As the value of the services become
apparent smart phones will become the phone of choice. In addition,
non-governmental agencies might be able to fill that need for many of the women
farmers who cannot afford smart phones. Our challenge is to create and provide
materials, curricula that reach the farmer where she needs it. It must be just
a few keystrokes away.
The
use of technology will not render obsolete the agricultural extension worker.
It will only assist them to reach more people, streamline their work on one
hand, and expand it on the other. Technology by itself will be a tool in the
hands of the trained, knowledgeable, and innovative extension worker. That
extension worker is to be developed and trained for the work of this century
and beyond. One is forced to ask the question: where are the personnel who
understand technology and agriculture? While the farmer understands farming,
she does not understand technology. The young people understand technology, but
do they understand farming? Do they even want to understand farming? That leads
to the issue of the ageing of agriculture.
The
Ageing of Agriculture
Where
are the farmers of tomorrow? Can we adequately utilize technology in
agriculture without young people? We will never be able to reap the full
benefits of the potential of technology in agriculture if we do not have the
personnel who straddle both worlds. Much has been written about today’s African
youth’s lack of interest in farming. Whatever the reason is, the reality is
that there will always be a need for farmers, and this is the time to begin to
establish educational programs and policies that make agriculture a viable
option for a livelihood. It is not likely that we will achieve this in a short
period of time, but we must begin.
To
start, we must engage young people in the world of agriculture so that their
technological expertise will be used towards addressing specific problems that
arise out of expressed needs of farmers. A concerted effort to familiarize
Africa’s youth with agriculture from the earliest years, and throughout
schooling years is needed. These programs must cast a visionary eye to the
future and take a long-term approach.
The
Way Forward
The
indisputable goal is the establishment of extension
services powered by technology dedicated to information and undergirded by favorable national policies (e-TIPS).
Tomorrow’s extension services will include a database and repository of
information, tailored to each community, translatable into local languages and
able to be transmitted to those who need it by telephone. The way forward must
include a few critical ingredients: planning, commitment, and cooperation.
It
is not uncommon for African governments to establish programs that are
abandoned almost as soon as they are established. Therefore, it is time to keep
agricultural issues on the front burner all the time. National governments must
be committed to agriculture as the main stay of their welfare and economy. This
commitment must include an effort to educate the citizenry regarding the place
of agriculture in the prosperity of a nation.
In
addition to the commitment, there must be adequate planning. The best minds in
the different fields, including educators, technology and agricultural
professionals, administrators, and researchers must be engaged in creating a
product, a curriculum, a program that is responsive to the needs of the people
it seeks to serve. If we don’t engage in thorough planning, we hold in
jeopardy, our future freedom and that of future generations of Africans. A
nation is not truly independent until it can feed itself.
Silos,
international silos, should be a thing of the past. African countries and
communities must work as one to share information, successes, setbacks, and
resources. Therefore, the new formula must include international cooperation across
the continent. The programs planned must be broad enough to be applicable in
different countries, but be adaptable enough to be usable by and available to
the average woman. A mobile phone
application was developed to be used by the nomadic Himba people of Namibia. A
demonstration of the application can be found here: http://tve.org/reframing-rio/films/life-apps/life-apps
namibia/index.html#.UsZLgvM4_5Y.facebook.
When technology in
agriculture is tailored to the local community, it will make a difference.
Finally,
it is imperative that all program be planned with the women in agriculture in
mind because, no matter how brilliant our ideas are, if it doesn’t work for
women, it doesn’t work. And judging by the sheer number of women farmers in
Africa, whatever we do for them, we do for all of Africa.
Resources
FAO
Fisheries Department, Inland Water Resources and Aquaculture Service.
Aquaculture extension in sub-Saharan Africa. FAO Fisheries Circular. No.
1002. Rome, FAO.
Hallward-Driemeier,
Mary, and Tazeen Hasan. 2012. Empowering Women: Legal Rights and Economic
Opportunities in Africa. Africa Development Forum series. Washington, DC: World
Bank. DOI: 10.1596/978-0-8213-9533-2. License: Creative Commons Attribution CC
BY 3.0
Doss,
C.R. 1999. Twenty-Five Years of Research on Women Farmers in Africa: Lessons
and Implications for Agricultural Research Institutions; with an Annotated
Bibliography. CIMMYT Economics Program Paper No. 99-02. Mexico D.F.: CIMMYT
Lucas,
C. P. (1913). A historical geography of the British colonies: Vol. Ill, West
Africa (3rd ed.). Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Tadele, G. and Gella, A. A. (2012),
‘A Last Resort and Often Not an Option at All’: Farming and Young People in
Ethiopia. IDS Bulletin, 43: 33–43. doi: 10.1111/j.1759-5436.2012.00377.x
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