It’s time for African Agriculture
Written by Dr. Esther Ngumbi
On May 18, the eve of 2012 G8 summit, The Chicago Council on Global Affairs convened G8 leaders, African Presidents, renowned senior global leaders in Agriculture to discuss upon a topic that is dear to my heart-Food Security. Also in attendance were; the 44th President of the United States, Barack Obama and The Honorable Hillary Clinton, Secretary of State. I was very privileged to have been one of the attendees, and to me this was a great honor. I represented Universities Fighting World Hunger-a growing organization that is serving as a catalyst mobilizing universities across the nation and around the globe to make fighting hunger a core value of higher education institutions worldwide. As a young African woman leader who is in the forefront championing the efforts for a food secure Africa, a recent PhD graduate in Entomology (Auburn University) whose research aimed at finding more sustainable ways to feed our expanding population, and a citizen of Kenya who participated in farming and witnessed firsthand impacts of hunger and poverty, attending this meeting was powerful, and humbling.
During the entire meeting, it was clear that the future of African Agriculture was bright. The whole World was paying attention to African Agriculture. Africans were also involved in these discussions. As a testimonial, the President of Tanzania, Benin, Ghana and Ethiopia were in attendance. Additionally, every panel had Africa represented and this to me was a true sign of the commitment by World leaders to advance African Agriculture. Perhaps the most striking thing to me was the fact that these African countries that were represented in the panels were committed to Agricultural Development -they had build or agreed to build their own country plans by making tough reforms and attracting investments. It was also a call for other African Countries that were missing in the meeting to take the tough call needed so as to attract investment from G8 leaders, United States and other private sector investors. With the future of Agriculture in Africa so bright, it was evident that hunger and poverty are about to become a story of the past in Africa.
The emerging themes during the symposium that were laid out by President Obama, Secretary Clinton, Administrator Shah of USAID and all of the panelists included:
At the end of the day I sat down and reflected on everything I had heard in the meeting. Building on what President Obama, Secretary Clinton, Administrator Shah, African Presidents and all the World leaders had been talking about –investing in Africa especially so in Agriculture I started to imagine a day an entire 1000 hectares would be filled with green houses that would be producing high quality vegetables at the Kenyan Coast. I imagined of a day when small holder women and men farmers from the Kenyan Coast would wake up wanting to go to the fields and when the fields would produce so much harvest enabling them to feed themselves their communities and the world. I imagined the Kenyan Coast being the next hub where agriculture, green house technology, entrepreneurship and smart marketing using cell phone technology would intersect to produce an everlasting change. I imagined the number of jobs that would be created, number of lives of poor women, men and disengaged youth that would be changed forever. I imagined the much anticipated green revolution in Africa happening at the Kenyan Coast. YES, I totally believe that my imagination can be turned into reality because, the Kenyan Coast and many other African countries Agriculture’s potential is underexplored. Time is now. President Obama, Secretary Clinton, African Presidents, and everyone attending the 2012 Chicago Council on Global Affairs symposium had renewed the optimism that YES, Africa is on its way to a being a food secure continent.
Written by Dr. Esther Ngumbi
On May 18, the eve of 2012 G8 summit, The Chicago Council on Global Affairs convened G8 leaders, African Presidents, renowned senior global leaders in Agriculture to discuss upon a topic that is dear to my heart-Food Security. Also in attendance were; the 44th President of the United States, Barack Obama and The Honorable Hillary Clinton, Secretary of State. I was very privileged to have been one of the attendees, and to me this was a great honor. I represented Universities Fighting World Hunger-a growing organization that is serving as a catalyst mobilizing universities across the nation and around the globe to make fighting hunger a core value of higher education institutions worldwide. As a young African woman leader who is in the forefront championing the efforts for a food secure Africa, a recent PhD graduate in Entomology (Auburn University) whose research aimed at finding more sustainable ways to feed our expanding population, and a citizen of Kenya who participated in farming and witnessed firsthand impacts of hunger and poverty, attending this meeting was powerful, and humbling.
During the entire meeting, it was clear that the future of African Agriculture was bright. The whole World was paying attention to African Agriculture. Africans were also involved in these discussions. As a testimonial, the President of Tanzania, Benin, Ghana and Ethiopia were in attendance. Additionally, every panel had Africa represented and this to me was a true sign of the commitment by World leaders to advance African Agriculture. Perhaps the most striking thing to me was the fact that these African countries that were represented in the panels were committed to Agricultural Development -they had build or agreed to build their own country plans by making tough reforms and attracting investments. It was also a call for other African Countries that were missing in the meeting to take the tough call needed so as to attract investment from G8 leaders, United States and other private sector investors. With the future of Agriculture in Africa so bright, it was evident that hunger and poverty are about to become a story of the past in Africa.
The emerging themes during the symposium that were laid out by President Obama, Secretary Clinton, Administrator Shah of USAID and all of the panelists included:
- The need to focus on development aimed at creating the conditions where assistance in form of aid is no longer needed.
- The need to speed up development and delivery of innovation –better seeds, better storage etc.
- The need to focus on nutrition. Need to make sure that during the first 1000 days of life, children get the right nutrients needed.
- The need to invest in Agriculture. Secretary Clinton clearly laid it out that Development dollars spend in Agriculture have the greatest impact on poverty reduction. She further went to emphasize that clearly, Africa, was the place every donor, business, investor should be aiming for because there is so much potential.
- The need to invest in women. Investing in women would translate into increased economic performance of communities, nations and the world.
At the end of the day I sat down and reflected on everything I had heard in the meeting. Building on what President Obama, Secretary Clinton, Administrator Shah, African Presidents and all the World leaders had been talking about –investing in Africa especially so in Agriculture I started to imagine a day an entire 1000 hectares would be filled with green houses that would be producing high quality vegetables at the Kenyan Coast. I imagined of a day when small holder women and men farmers from the Kenyan Coast would wake up wanting to go to the fields and when the fields would produce so much harvest enabling them to feed themselves their communities and the world. I imagined the Kenyan Coast being the next hub where agriculture, green house technology, entrepreneurship and smart marketing using cell phone technology would intersect to produce an everlasting change. I imagined the number of jobs that would be created, number of lives of poor women, men and disengaged youth that would be changed forever. I imagined the much anticipated green revolution in Africa happening at the Kenyan Coast. YES, I totally believe that my imagination can be turned into reality because, the Kenyan Coast and many other African countries Agriculture’s potential is underexplored. Time is now. President Obama, Secretary Clinton, African Presidents, and everyone attending the 2012 Chicago Council on Global Affairs symposium had renewed the optimism that YES, Africa is on its way to a being a food secure continent.
