We have come a long way from the usual images depicting Africa as a starving continent.
African countries are more determined than ever before to grow food for their people. New technologies and ideas – from mobile phone information systems to new varieties of crops – are rapidly transforming agriculture.
But the sector continues to suffer from stereotypes inside as well as outside Africa.
Farming across the continent remains synonymous with poverty and subsistence. Simply, people don't believe it will pay a proper wage, let alone their children’s school fees or health bills. It is seen as a dead-end job and most definitely not something of interest to aspiring youth.
It’s an increasingly out-of-date stereotype. So following the theme of this year’s Annual Letter by Bill and Melinda Gates, the myth I’d like to debunk is: “Africa’s farmers will always be poor”.
In fact, there are huge opportunities for farmers. Yields of staple crops have steadily increased over the past decade. There’s potential for them to increase by two or even three times more.
This would have a tremendous impact on farmers, their families, communities and economies. Research from around the world shows that every one per cent growth in crop yields leads to a 0.8 per cent fall in the number of people living in absolute poverty.
Nor is agricultural and income growth small picture stuff. There are strong links between growth in agriculture and growth in the wider economy. Every US$1 generated in income in agriculture created US$1.88 in the wider economy in Burkina Faso, and US$1.50 in Zambia. In fact, agricultural growth is eleven times more effective in reducing poverty than growth in any other sector.
It is youth and women who have critical roles in delivering this progress. There are many examples of young Africans launching exciting new projects in agriculture – from radio programmes that give advice to farmers, to new mobile phone platforms that provide them with the latest market prices.
A great deal has been documented about the specific obstacles faced by women farmers but not enough about the economic gains that could come from removing these obstacles. A 20-30 per cent increase in yields and hundreds of millions of people lifted out of poverty globally could be delivered.
Of course, for this myth to be truly debunked, the right conditions need to be in place for farmers to seize opportunities and make a good living.
That is why civil society across Africa – supported by NGOs like ONE and individuals like Nigerian singer D’Banj – have come together as part of the DoAgric campaign to ask governments to provide the necessary support to enable farmers to make a good living.
We are now 10 years down the road from the Maputo Declaration, under which African governments committed themselves to allocate 10 per cent of the national budget to agricultural development. The reality is that while there have been really impressive results, some countries aren’t on track.
A decade on from that historic declaration, it is time for African governments to renew their commitments to develop agriculture.
Increasing funding is vital. We also need to address areas that were previously overlooked, like creating solutions to the barriers to intra-regional trade and establishing mechanisms to minimise the loss of revenue caused by poor post-harvest management.
African civil societies are also pressing governments for much more rigorous monitoring and evaluation of what’s happening in agriculture on the ground. After all, it is only when we know where progress is taking place that we can allocate greater efforts to areas where there are shortfalls.
Addressing these challenges, and others, is the key to unlocking the rich potential of African farmers, lifting millions out of poverty and driving wider prosperity.
This July’s African Union summit provides the opportunity to commit that support and kill off the myth that Africa’s farmers will always be poor once and for all.
Mercy Karanja, who grew up on a farm in Kenya and went to school on account of her parents' farming, is a senior programme officer and senior regional advisor to East Africa for agricultural development at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.