Farmer’s Diary: Governments should unite against hunger

Perhaps, nothing else unites human beings more than common human problems. We may speak different languages and live in different geographical locations but there are always issues that cut across ethnic and geographical boundaries and call for combined regional effort to overcome.

This is an observation also made by Prof Calestous Juma of Harvard Kennedy School last week at the Imperial Resort Beach Hotel in Entebbe. He was referring to the joint commitment manifested by Asareca (Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in Eastern and Central Africa) countries to fight hunger and poverty. They decided that their agriculture research scientists share knowledge to empower farmers, improve agricultural production, foster economic development, mitigate climate change effects, and fight crop and animal diseases as well as promote the application of scientific knowledge and technology in farming.

The region’s economic future is based on agriculture and it is the recognition of this fact that made their collaboration inevitable. “All countries in Eastern and Central Africa face similar challenges in agricultural development,” reads one of the general assembly’s recommendations made last week.

“Therefore, collective action is the most plausible approach in dealing with cross border constraints. Evidence shows that the returns to investment are much higher when the countries collaborate than when they pursue those constraints independently.” We have good reason to expect stronger commitment from the governments to farming because all their agriculture ministers were present or represented at the general assembly.

Great Lakes region in danger

The theme at the meet was “Feeding our region in the 21st century”. Dr Seyfu Ketema, Asareca executive director, mentioned the region’s high population density as a major challenge that will require new and more scientific agricultural production approaches. Mr Joseph Karugia from ILRI (International Livestock Research Institute) presented a paper on ‘High and Volatile Food Prices’, which he also attributed to a rapidly expanding population yet the region is characterised by low agricultural productivity due to underinvestment in the sector, high input prices, and recurrent droughts.

In his paper on “Agricultural Science, Technology and Innovation” Prof Juma called for the integration of universities and agricultural research organisations to foster quicker and more comprehensive achievement of food security and poverty alleviation. Mr Godber W. Tumushabe from Acode (Advocate Coalition for Development and Environment) discussed ‘Governance and Policy Imperatives for Transformation of Agriculture in Eastern and Central Africa’ and strongly criticised African governments for not taking bold steps necessary to transform agriculture.

Asareca’s good intentions must be accompanied by the governments’ commitment to slow down population growth and adopt democratic governance to minimise political conflicts.

Agricultural experts meeting in Kigali last October noted, “Most of the agricultural land (in the great lakes region) has extremely high population densities and severely degraded soils. DR Congo has been in a state of almost continual instability and periodic violence since 1996. An estimated 5.4million people are feared to have been killed by 2007 in Congo alone. A decade of conflict in Burundi and the 1994 genocide in Rwanda are responsible for widespread displacement and regional instability.” That meeting in Kigali may not have mentioned the recent conflict in northern Uganda and the other recent ones in Eritrea or Ethiopia but our leaders have to appreciate that food security and economic development are impossible without political stability, which is rooted in democratic governance.

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