BY WOLIT WILLIAM
First, we should applaud H.E. the President for his continued emphasis on the need to diversify the economy through agriculture and, importantly, to ensure that the chronic food and nutrition insecurity of the population is addressed. His recent appointment of H.E. Benjamin Bol Mel as Vice President in charge of the Economic Cluster and his emphasis on the importance of the agricultural sector to the latter further underlines the need for civic engagement in the development sector. The vice president seemed up to the challenge in his speech, and this is probably a ray of hope.
For a country like South Sudan seeking to transform its rich but under-exploited agricultural endowments, it is useful to know what models of agricultural development approaches have worked or not worked in other countries. However, in a country with a sector with enormous challenges, perhaps a two-pronged approach would be pivotal to developing this huge potential;
- A greater proportion of the arable land, which is about 4 percent intermittently cultivated by subsistence farmers, could be increased and brought under continuous cultivation, with improved access to markets, lower transport costs that reduce the cost of and access to inputs, the use of out-grower models, and so on.
- Significant investment could also be made in the cultivation of new land by medium and large commercial farms, many of which would use out-grower models that allow nearby existing or new smallholder farms to supply fresh food and agricultural raw materials for processing by the commercial farm. (For example, sugar cane grown by smallholders and processed in a central facility operated by a large commercial enterprise).
Considering the small size of the South Sudanese market, any strategy must be both domestic and export-oriented, contributing to food security, facilitating agro-allied domestic industrialization, and maximizing exports. High priority could be given to scaling up the production of high-value crops using adaptive technology and cost-effective production inputs. In addition, to achieve technical efficiency, resource allocation should be rationalized and output maximized.
Under the African Union New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP)framework, it is the role of government, with assistance from its development partners, to articulate the sector development strategy, create an enabling policy environment, demonstrate commitment to promote the attainment of key targets and increase public and private investment to levels that will result in sustained growth in agriculture of 6% a year. An integral part of an enabling environment is the provision of security in a country like South Sudan, basic infrastructure, and extension services. These investments would take the form of budget allocations by the government, as well as incentive-driven private domestic and foreign direct investment.
In addition, transport and other trade logistics constraints to market access need to be addressed. Like Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, and Rwanda, South Sudan can increase agricultural production and productivity by creating an enabling policy environment and by making new and sustained investments in agricultural production and related support services, including off-farm processing and infrastructure services, especially in the green-belts areas.
While each country is unique, with different ecological characteristics and agricultural practices, a key lesson from the experiences of countries in the Horn of Africa is that the Government of South Sudan will need to play an important role in promoting agricultural development.
Ghana Model
The government of Ghana launched the Northern Ghana agricultural development program aimed at raising agricultural GDP in 2005, promoting national food sufficiency, and raising smallholder income. The region was targeted because of its relatively high poverty, large agricultural potential due to the existence of abundant uncultivated arable land, good water supply, and yet low output yields. The region has high agricultural potential for import substitution in rice, maize, and soy. The key targets of the program are: (i) double the per capita income of 250,000 farmers per year; (ii) increase cultivated land by 20 percent by the end of the program; (iii) achieve 70 percent food sufficiency in rice; and increase: agricultural GDP by USD 500 million/year, earmark USD 100 million public investment through the program and, attract USD 600 million private (domestic and foreign).
The Government, with support from AGRA, mobilized financial and technical support from the World Bank, the African Development Bank, bilateral donors, and domestic and foreign private investors. The program aims to upgrade all segments of the agriculture sector value chain by mobilizing private sector contractors to organize and empower smallholder farmers, produce aggregators, and marketing agents. The Ghana program is built on five key principles: (i) The AU/NEPAD Comprehensive African Agriculture Development.
Ethiopian Model
Ethiopia is considered a leader in the use of strategic international (foreign) partners to promote agricultural development. Agriculture is the backbone of the Ethiopian economy, accounting for 85 percent of employment and nearly 50 percent of GDP. Since 1991, the Agricultural Development Led Industrialization Program (ADLI) has served as the vehicle for promoting agricultural modernization, national growth, and poverty reduction.
Through ADLI, agricultural development has resulted in significant commercialization and entrenchment of value addition in the agricultural sector, expansion of capital base, and accumulation of investment and technology. At the federal level, the Agricultural Investment Support Directive (AISD), under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, serves as a central office to facilitate land leases of 5,000 hectares (ha) or larger for investment purposes. AISD is the central depository of these plots and expedites the issuance of licenses, permits, and approval of all land leases. At the state and local levels, the relevant authorities provide extension services and facilitate access to micro-finance and technical assistance services and training for smallholder farmers and farmer cooperatives.
AISD aims to lease three million hectares of land for large-scale commercial farming. Since 2004, the agency has allocated 607,760 ha to investors (of which 157 projects are over 1,000 ha), realizing a total investment commitment of approximately USD 78.6 million. Foreign direct investors include a German biofuel project, an investor in a livestock project (leasing 150,000ha), and a Saudi Arabian government-backed company investing in rice and palm oil projects.
The writer, Wolit William, is a specialist in sustainable agriculture with a special focus on food systems and development. He can be reached via wwolit@gmail.com.
The views expressed in ‘opinion’ articles published by Radio Tamazuj are solely those of the writer. The veracity of any claims made is the author’s responsibility, not Radio Tamazuj’s.