Nairobi - Kenya's Cabinet Secretary for Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries, Willy Bett has challenged stakeholders in the agricultural sector in Africa to up their game for Africa to experience true transformation in the sector.
Bett candidly told an international press briefing in Nairobi attended by major funders such as the Rockefeller Foundation, that Africa could`not continue using archaic methods of farming and expect to achieve food security.
He said it was unfortunate that the face of agriculture in Africa was "women with hoes and kids on their backs", and termed this a major anomaly for a continent that claimed to be transforming itself.
Bett outlined what ailed Africa's agricultural sector, terming it as unattractive even to the youth in Africa due to the archaic farming methods and low returns that farmers get for their produce.
"We have to make this sector commercially viable if we are to engage our youth to take it up as a serious business," said Bett, adding that if handled effectively, agriculture could become a major contributor to the continent's GDP.
Bett was speaking at an international media briefing in Nairobi on Monday to usher in an international conference on agriculture, dubbed "African Green Revolution Forum 2016", that takes place in Nairobi this week.
Bett said the situation was dire and called for concerted efforts in ensuring that policies, financial reforms and the legal framework was supportive of the transformation required to lift up Africa's agriculture. "We are committed to pushing through the policy and financial reforms that can make farming and other agriculture businesses an economically and environmentally sustainable way of life," said Bett.
Speaking at the same briefing, The Rockefeller Foundation's Africa Managing Director, Mamadou Biteye said that the agricultural sector's contribution to the GDP of many African countries has been declining over the years.
Biteye noted that Africa suffered huge losses in agricultural wastage due mainly to lack of proper storage of farm produce. He said Rockefeller and other partners were already mitigating this challenge through funding of pilot projects in various countries where several methods of storage were being applied, including solar powered silos.
Dr Agnes Kalibata, the President of Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), who are co-conveners of the international forum, said that the road map for the implementation of the desired transformation was already in place with very clear and measurable goals.
Dr Dominique Charron, of the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), also co-conveners of the forum, said that IDRC were in sync with Africa's agricultural transformation in seeking a "green revolution" through partnerships and funding of agricultural programmes.
General Manager for the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research, Melissa Wood, said that Africa could learn a lot from farmers in Australia who she said were the "most innovative" in the world. Woods said that Australia and Africa were both "old continents" with generally the same harsh terrain that was difficult to farm.
Woods said already partnerships had been formed to practically mentor African farmers on some of the innovative methods used by Australian farmers.
The agricultural forum will be held at the UN complex in Nairobi and brings together stakeholders in the agricultural sector from across the world, including researchers and funders.
Several African heads of state and high-level officials from over 40 countries are among the 1,500 delegates gathering for the Sixth African Green revolution Forum. The Forum is expected to deliver millions of dollars in new investments for African farmers and agricultural businesses.
African News Agency