Africa can feed itself, if allowed

FAMINES are created by policies, not by pests or droughts. Hunger plagues hundreds of millions of Africans, even though they are capable of feeding themselves. The solution is the right sort of policies. Agricultural production has surpassed population growth and reduced hunger everywhere except in sub-Saharan Africa. Poverty and malnutrition are widespread. Environmental hardships such as soil erosion are omnipresent and are only worsening with primitive techniques of subsistence farming.

Only 50 years ago, most people would have predicted this misfortune not for sub-Saharan Africa but for Asia. What was it that saved millions of lives in Asia, but failed to materialise in sub-Saharan Africa? The use of technologies like pesticides or fertilisers ó key elements of the Asian 'green revolution' ó provides only the start of an answer. The full answer lies with government and governance.

Most sub-Saharan countries lack political and economic freedom, so economic underperformance continues to be the norm. Since independence, the agricultural sector has been hit particularly hard by both the indifference of national leaders and harmful government policies.

For two decades following independence, national leaders paid little attention to agriculture. Government funds went to industry, while little money was invested in rural areas. On top of that, it was urbanites who benefited from economic regulations such as artificially low food prices. To put it simply, these leaders viewed agriculture as the milk cow for nonagricultural sectors. Worse, little was done to keep the cow healthy.

Between 1960 and 1985, Africa's per capita food production fell 25%. When Africans do manage to grow produce, they face the highest tariffs in the world with their neighbours ó an average of 33,6%.

While restrictive economic policies are largely to blame for the collapse of agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa, the international community did little to improve the situation. Through technical assistance and funds, international donors helped governments to intervene increasingly in the agricultural sector. Naturally, this led to heavier taxes and tariffs, state-run monopolies, and overstaffed bureaucracies. Even though governments were not interested in the farming sector, everything was done to hinder private initiatives and entrepreneurship.

Fifty years of obstructed growth has taken its toll on sub-Saharan Africa. Most farmers produce barely enough to feed themselves and nearly one-third of the region's 650-million inhabitants are malnourished. Subsistence farming, coupled with low use of modern inventions, has led to land degradation. As the soil loses its nutrients and moisture, farmers are forced to find land elsewhere. It is not hard to see why deforestation for agricultural purposes is greatest in sub-Saharan Africa.

The application of improved farming technologies ó fertiliser, pesticides, hybrid seeds ó would bring clear benefits to the region. Higher yields would lower food prices. Greater profits would allow people to invest their resources and skills in other sectors, while governments could invest the revenue in infrastructure. Land degradation and deforestation would be significantly reduced. But first and foremost, improved farming techniques would mean less hunger and fewer premature deaths.

It is not too late for sub-Saharan Africa to reap the fruits of a green revolution. Though still too rare, there have been encouraging trends toward liberalisation since the 1990s. However, as long as government policies continue to penalise agriculture, widespread poverty and economic performance will only worsen ó nearly three-quarters of all Africans live off the land.

There are hesitant improvements in sight, such as this year's promises at the African Fertiliser Summit in Abuja to cut regional import duties on fertiliser -ó but there are no plans to extend those exemptions to farm machinery, pesticides, irrigation equipment and seeds, nor to remove obstacles and regulations.

Trade protectionism and government regulations hinder entrepreneurship, trade and sustainable economic growth in most of Africa. Governments need to get out of the way, cut restrictive tariffs, and remove state marketing boards, to allow businesses to work ó because Africans are perfectly capable of feeding themselves, if only they were allowed to.

Southgate is professor of agricultural economics at Ohio State University and a co-author of Growing Green ó the challenge of sustainable agricultural
development in sub-Saharan Africa.