The EastAfrican
Date: 02.01.2017
Page 17
Article size: 646 cm2
ColumnCM: 143.55
AVE: 215333.33
I just blowed into Africa, and I got them
dust bowl blues gain
experienced marked
improvements in agri­
cultural production, per
capita GDP, and nutri­
Picture a small
farm under
a blazing hot
sky. An intense
drought is afflicting
the surrounding region,
tion.
prospects for the next
harvest are bleak, and
the financial system
lacks the capacity to
provide the loans farm­
ers need to get by. This
ment paves the way for
Government invest­
private­sector invest­
ment, and it could be a
game­changer for Afri­
can farmers, who have
operated at subsistence
levels for far too long.
Only about 6 per cent of
scenario describes to­
day's Southern Africa,
which is in the grip of an
epic drought. As it hap­
pens, it also describes
rural households in sub­
Saharan Africa receive
loans from financial
eastern Nebraska in the
institutions. Moreover,
"Dust Bowl" years of the
early 1930s ­ a period
through which my own
family lived.
My father, Ralph
Raikes, was the first in
his family to graduate
from college. After work­
ing for Standard Oil in
California, he stopped
by his parents' farm on
his way to Cambridge,
Massachusetts, where
he planned to pursue graduate studies
at MIT. He never made it. He had to stay
in Nebraska and help my grandfather
save the family farm from the banks,
which had already repossessed one­
almost two­thirds of
African farmland soil
third of the land.
is missing key nutrients,
and many farmers lack
the technical knowledge
and resources to restore
braska's labs and greenhouses emerged
out of United States government pro­
grammes that had been created to im­
prove the agriculture sector's perform­
ance. That sector was under water in
1933; with one­quarter of the popula­
The most important change my father
made was in his mindset: He came to
think of the farm not as a subsistence
operation, but as a family business. He
turned to the University of Nebraska,
where he had received his undergradu­
ate degree, and acquired hybrid corn
and other improved seeds that the uni­
versity was developing. Then he tracked
inputs and weather conditions, which
was rarely done at that time.
My father realised that he couldn't go
it alone, and that he would need better
access to financing. So he helped guide ­
first as a customer, and later as an advis­
er and director ­ Farm Credit, a national
banking co­operative network, in its ef­
forts to help local farmers weather the
Dust Bowl years. He also helped found
the Nebraska Farm Business Associa­
tion, which aggregated the data that
he and his peers collected, so that they
could determine best practices. And he
worked together with my mother, Alice,
who ran the family poultry business.
Farm Credit and the University of Ne­
tion living on farms at the time, more
investment was needed. That year, Con­
gress passed the first "Farm Bill," the
Agricultural Adjustment Act, which
boosted investment in the rural econ­
ing their subsistence operations as fam­
ily­owned enterprises. And, like my fa­
ther during the Dust Bowl years, they
have novel means at their disposal: A
wide range of new seeds and other tech­
nologies have been developed for Afri­
can family farms ­ those with 4­5 acres
or less ­ to use in the field. In October,
a group of scientists received the World
Food Prize for producing and dissemi­
nating a sweet potato variety that adds
omy and helped lift farm income by 50
per cent within two years. Federal farm
programmes treated farming as a busi­
ness enterprise, enabling businessmen
like my father to prosper.
Eighty years later, African farmers
need to make the same switch, by treat­
vitamin A to sub­Saharan Africans' di­
African farmers need to make
tries to increase their investment in the
ets, and other new seed varieties are
helping farmers survive the harvest­
crushing drought.
But, as a recent report from the Al­
liance for a Green Revolution in Africa
(AGRA) makes clear, government in­
vestment must follow the science. Agri­
culture comprises almost two­thirds of
sub­Saharan Africa's workforce, and in
2003 the African Union called for coun­
the switch to treating their
subsistence operations as family­
owned enterprises. And, like
my father during the Dust Bowl
years, they have novel means at
their disposal
sector to an ambitious 10 per cent of all
their land's fertility,
leaving them unable to
take full advantage of
new technologies. Af­
rican farmers growing
new crop varieties are
increasing their yields
by only 28 per cent, compared with 88
per cent for farmers in Asia.
My parents made certain that all five
of their children graduated from college.
Like them, farmers everywhere want to
ensure that their children lead healthy,
prosperous lives; and they all recognise
the importance of education. The farm­
ers I have met around the world often
just want to sell enough extra produce to
pay their health bills and put their chil­
dren through school. They take advan­
tage of opportunities when they arise,
and they position their children to reap
larger profits in the future.
One hopes that an American story
of economic progress, like that of my
family, will soon be an African story,
too. With so many new innovations be­
coming available, Africa's family farm­
ers need their governments to invest in
their future. If they do, that future will
look much better than today's dusty and
desperate reality.
government spending. Only 13 countries
answered that call, but their investments
­ in research and development, services
that help farmers take advantage of new
research findings, credit and financing
initiatives, commodity exchanges, and
other marketing efforts ­ have already
paid dividends. Those 13 countries have
Ipsos Kenya ­ Acorn House,97 James Gichuru Road ­ Lavington ­ Nairobi ­ Kenya