05 Replicating Indian green revolution model in Africa

My presentation was appreciated by both African and Indian delegates, representing public and private sector organizations which included various input supplying enterprises as well.  It was crucial to understand the potential opportunities for partnerships through meetings with African delegates. Some of my interactions were very interesting and gave me eye opening perspective on certain aspects.

Dr Akinwumi Adesina, whose work I had followed and appreciated for years had organized the 2006 Africa Fertilizer Summit with focus on policy reform, financial innovation and enhanced agricultural production; and as part of the Rockefeller Foundation he had led a major expansion of commercial banks which lend to farmers.  As Vice President of the nascent Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) and later as Minister of Agriculture in Nigeria, he had also introduced E-Wallet system which broke the back of corrupt elements that had controlled the fertilizer distribution system for 40 years, earning him the reputation as the ‘Farmer’s Minister’ His reforms over five years had led to dramatic increases in Nigerian food production and farm incomes.

With the backdrop of remarkable work done by Dr Adesina, I was excited to discuss potential partnerships in the seed sector with Nigerian enterprises. While interacting with some delegates I found out that local West African business community and especially Nigerians were well informed about India, its customs, traditions and food habits etc. Needless to mention that India-Nigeria bilateral trade was the highest amongst Indian business with any other African country. Most of the big African business houses like Olam and Chenrai were engaging many Indian ex-patriots at important positions in their companies. Even mid-size local agriculture companies were employing young Indians on farms and on technical posts. Though safety and security in Nigeria was and has always been a topic of global concern, it was very heartening to see that many Indians were very comfortably working and living in Nigeria with their families.

During the discussions, many delegates were stressing the fact that ever since Nigeria became an Oil exporting country predominantly, it’s focus on agriculture was getting diluted and they expressed concern about the country facing a challenge of food security in the future, becoming a net importer of food grains.

Even though agriculture remains the largest sector of the Nigerian economy and employs two-thirds of the entire labour force, the production hurdles have significantly stifled the performance of the sector. Over the past 20 years, value-added per capita in agriculture has risen by less than 1 per cent annually. It is estimated that Nigeria has lost USD 10 billion in annual export opportunity from groundnut, palm oil, cocoa and cotton alone due to continuous decline in the production of those commodities. Food (crop) production increases have not kept pace with population growth, resulting in rising food imports and declining levels of national food self-sufficiency (FMARD, 2008). The main factors undermining production include reliance on rainfed agriculture, smallholder land holding, and low productivity due to poor planting material, low fertilizer application, and a weak agricultural extension system amongst others.

Nigeria is the continent’s leading consumer of rice, one of the largest producers of rice in Africa and simultaneously one of the largest rice importers in the world. As well as an important food security crop, it is an essential cash crop for it is mainly small-scale producers who commonly sell 80 per cent of total production and consume only 20 per cent. Rice generates more income for Nigerian farmers than any other cash crop in the country. In 2008, Nigeria produced approximately 2 million MT of milled rice and imported roughly 3 million metric tons, including the estimated 800,000 metric tons that is suspected to enter the country illegally on an annual basis.

I discussed several different mechanisms with delegates by which Indian genetic material, finance, technology and expertise might enter African seed systems. The most obvious one was direct or indirect export of seed from India to African countries and particularly to the ECOWAS region. ECOWAS region seed policy was claimed to be import-friendly and seeds tested in any two counties of ECOWAS region could be freely exchanged in the entire region. This was an important piece of information for planning further strategies. The principal crops and seed technologies flowing from India into Africa could be vegetables, along with hybrids of some field crops. However, ordinary grains face the challenge of regulatory regime because import of these ‘food security crops’ is generally stricter. Another channel for Indian influence in the African seed sector could be direct investments in African seed companies and seed production facilities or even in non-seed agricultural production. This strategy could involve the acquisition or establishment of an African subsidiary, or the creation of a joint venture with an African firm, enabling the Indian firm to establish domestic presence within African countries.