Abstract

Agriculture remains the mainstay of most economies in Africa, accounting for 37% of gross domestic product (GDP), nearly 60% of export earnings, and over 76% of employment. Over the decades, agricultural value added has averaged 17%, growing at a rate of 1.4%. This has been driven primarily by low use of modern technologies such as improved crop varieties, fertilisers and other complementary inputs, which in turn is an artefact of limited access to agricultural finance. The direct consequence of low agricultural productivity is the high rates of poverty and malnutrition on the continent. African governments are renewing efforts to promote agriculture, recognising that GDP growth originating in agriculture is about four times more effective in reducing poverty than GDP growth in other sectors, although how best to do this within very complex political economies remains a challenge. As an important first step towards reducing poverty and increasing wealth among smallholder farmers in Africa, this chapter explores the major challenges in farmers’ access to productive farm inputs and finances and reviews alternative approaches that could be used to improve access by farmers to these resources.

Highlights

  • Agriculture remains the mainstay of the economies of many African countries

  • 60% of export earnings are from agriculture, and over 76% of the 987 million Africans living in rural areas are employed in agriculture (FAO 2010)

  • In the light of this, most African governments embrace reduction of poverty and increase of wealth among smallholder farmers as important policy challenges. This is exemplified by the African Heads of State 2003 Maputo Comprehensive African Agricultural Development Programme (CAADP) declaration, which commits governments to spend at least 10% of their national budgets on agriculture to raise agricultural productivity to at least 6% (NEPAD 2004); and the 2006 Abuja Declaration that ‘given the strategic importance of fertiliser in achieving the African Green Revolution to end hunger, the African Union Member States resolve to increase the level of use of fertiliser from the current average of 8 kilograms per hectare to an average of at least 50 kg per hectare by 2015’

Read more

Summary

Introduction

Agriculture remains the mainstay of the economies of many African countries. 60% of export earnings are from agriculture, and over 76% of the 987 million Africans living in rural areas are employed in agriculture (FAO 2010). Agriculture’s average contribution to GDP on the continent has been declining over time, it still remains high, averaging 37% with a range of 3–67%. Whereas agricultural value added averages 17%, value added per agricultural worker in 2003 (in 2000 USD) averaged USD 327, growing at a rate of 1.4%, compared to USD 23081 at a rate of 4.4% in Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries during the same period (IAASTD 2009)

Langyintuo
Challenges to Smallholder Farmers’ Access to Production Inputs
Limitations in Access to Secure Agricultural Land
Policies and Institutional Factors Hindering Farmers’ Access to Improved Seed
Constraints to Smallholder Farmers’ Access to Fertiliser in Africa
Access to Agricultural Finance for Smallholder Farmers
Improving Security of Land Access
Facilitating Access to Improved Seeds
Promoting Fertiliser Access for Farmers
Credit Guarantee Schemes
Interlocked Markets for Credit and Value Chain Financing
Warehouse Receipts System (WRS)
Findings
Concluding Remarks
Full Text
Published version (Free)

Talk to us

Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have

Schedule a call