As a region, sub-Saharan Africa relies
heavily on agriculture, the source of employment for
70% of its population and a significant contributor
to gross national products. Small-scale farmers predominate
in a climate of increasing population pressure, food
insecurity, very low (and declining) levels of agricultural
productivity and rapid natural resource degradation.
One result is that agricultural productivity has stagnated
over the past few years and per capita food production
has declined to 1980 levels.
There are many reasons for the low
productivity. Among the most significant constraints
are the continued reliance on outdated technologies
and farming practices, lack of access to up-to-date
information, under-capitalization of farmers, poor
land use, and insecurity of land tenure. Others are
problems related to poor infrastructure, as well as
inappropriate policy and regulatory frameworks that
distort markets and hinder efficient production. In
many countries food production has been negatively
affected by the rise of HIV/AIDS, as productivity
is compromised by the need to care for ailing family
members. Of importance also is the global impact of
climate change, which is particularly hard on sub-Saharan
Africa.
Building agricultural productivity
and food security is essential to Africa’s war
on poverty. Required are new and improved technologies
– more specifically, broad dissemination of
newly developed and existing technologies –
and strong agricultural research and development institutions,
as these are the channel through which this will occur.
Recognizing the importance of the sector
and a green revolution for Africa – and their
policy implications – the African Economic Research
Consortium (AERC) addressed these issues during the
plenary session of its week-long, region-wide biannual
workshop for economic researchers and policy makers.
The workshop held in Entebbe, Uganda, from 31 May
to 5 June 2008 at the Imperial Resort Beach Hotel.
More than 200 people attended, including researchers,
doctoral students and senior scholars from over 20
countries in Africa, as well as resource persons from
Europe and North America.
The plenary session, the 28th in a
series spanning more than a decade, took the theme
Agricultural Sector Performance and a Green
Revolution in Africa. Chaired by AERC Executive
Director William Lyakurwa, the session commenced at
9:00 a.m. on Sunday, 1 June. Four presentations by
distinguished economists highlighted the event. Alain
de Janvry of the University of California presented
a paper on “Agricultural Sector Performance
in Africa: Past, Present and Future”, while
Ademola T. Oyejide of the University of Ibadan, Nigeria,
presented “The World Trade Order and Agricultural
Transformation in Africa”. Yoko Kijima, of the
Foundation for Advanced Studies on International Development,
Japan, and Rashid Hassan of the University of Pretoria,
South Africa, made presentations on “Technology
Policies for a Green Revolution and Agricultural Transformation
in Africa” and “Implications of Climate
Change for Agricultural Sector Performance in Africa:
Policy Challenges and Research Agenda”, respectively.
Discussants that were lined up for the four presentations
were Andres Temu of the University of Agriculture,
Sokoine, Tanzania; Oliver Morrisey, University of
Nottingham, UK; Willis Kosura, Collaborative Master’s
Programme in Agricultural and Applied Economics (CMAAE),
Nairobi; and John Mbaku, Weber State University, Utah,
USA.
A roundtable discussion on the theme
closed the plenary agenda. Panellists reviewed various
experiences, achievements and drawbacks, as well as
gave suggestions for additional policies and strategies
that are being or should be considered to improve
agricultural performance in Africa. They also helped
identify areas for further research. The four panel
members were all distinguished African policy makers
and analysts: Samuel S. Wangwe of Daima Associates,
Tanzania, Josué Dioné, United Nations
Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), Richard Mkandawire
(NEPAD), and Nehemiah Ng’eno, a former Permanent
Secretary in Kenya’s ministry of trade.
The heart of the biannual took place
in three day-long concurrent sessions, beginning on
Monday, 2 June. The sessions featured the work of
AERC-supported research teams and students from its
Collaborative PhD Programme (the CPP). There were
80 presentations in all, including research proposals,
work in progress, final reports and PhD thesis research
proposals. The presentations covered a wide range
of topics that fall into the five main areas of AERC’s
thematic research programme: poverty, income distribution
and labour market issues; macroeconomic policies,
investment and growth; finance and resource mobilization;
trade and regional integration; and political economy
and sectoral policy issues.
One curtain-raising meeting was convened
ahead of the main workshop. A conference organized
jointly by AERC and the World Bank was held on 31
May, with the expected participation of 50 people.
The conference addressed the topic Trade Costs
and Business Environment: A Focus on Africa.
John Wilson, the World Bank’s Lead Economist
in the Development Research Group, Professor Lyakurwa,
the AERC Executive Director, and Prof. Olu Ajakaiye,
AERC Research Director, opened the workshop.
The African Economic Research Consortium
is a leader in policy-oriented economic research in
the continent, and its biannual research workshops
have become the largest gatherings of professional
economists in sub-Saharan Africa. The Consortium was
established in 1988 as a public not-for-profit organization
devoted to building capacity for economic policy research
into problems pertinent to the management of the continent’s
economies. This is carried out through two main programmes:
research and postgraduate training. In response to
the special needs of the region, the AERC Research
Programme uses a flexible approach to improve the
technical skills of local researchers, allow for regional
determination of research priorities, strengthen national
institutions concerned with economic policy research,
and facilitate closer ties between researchers and
policy makers. The Training Programme augments the
region’s pool of economic researchers by supporting
collaborative graduate programmes in economics –
at both master’s and PhD levels – as well
as improving the capacities of departments of economics
in local public universities. AERC is supported by
donor governments, private foundations and international
organizations.
20th Anniversary Observance:
AERC marks two decades of capacity building
in 2008 and is taking the opportunity for a year-long
reflection on its history and prospects – and
its impact on the economic management of sub-Saharan
Africa in the past 20 years. To commemorate the anniversary,
AERC will convene an international conference on the
theme Natural Resource Management and Climate Change
in Africa: Issues, Opportunities and Challenges, to
be held in Nairobi on 15–18 September. These
issues are particularly relevant for poverty reduction
measures, both because of the region’s heavy
reliance on commodity exports and because agriculture
forms the backbone of the continent’s economies
and the livelihoods of its poor. The conference will
gear up African policy makers to proactively set in
place mechanisms to confront these twin challenges.
# # #
For more information about this workshop or AERC,
please contact:
The Executive Director
African Economic Research Consortium (AERC)
Middle East Bank Towers, 3rd Floor, Milimani Road
Tel: (254-20) 273-4150 / 273-4157
Fax: (254-20) 273-4173
exec.dir@aercafrica.org
communications@aercafrica.org
www.aercafrica.org
