Politics at Centre of Poor Agriculture Performance
Frederick Golooba-Mutebi Photo from Getty Images
What ails smallholder agriculture , the dominant type of agriculture in Africa ? Smallholder farmers count among the poorest Africans . How could they be pulled out of poverty ? Many factors contribute to the poor performance of agriculture in Africa , but politicians ’ lack of intentionality in enabling smallholder agriculture to become productive appears as the most important one .
It is easy to think of increasing small farmers ’ incomes through technical fixes . Economists tend to think of incentives to spur farmers into producing for the market . Politicians almost always think that smallholder farming is by nature incapable of pulling the poor out of poverty , that the road to success is via the creation of large farms and the mechanisation of agriculture . They usually talk up the imperative to aggregate land and create large commercial farms to create employment and boost production for local consumption and export . There are numerous stories of ambitious agricultural modernisation projects and programmes across Africa during the early years of independence . They invariably failed and when they did , all they left behind were carcasses of tractors , combine harvesters and other machinery , as well as shattered aspirations .
Interestingly , across East Asia , many agriculture success stories show that governments were intentional in focusing on enabling smallholder agriculture to become productive . It was a strategy not only to ensure that people were well-fed , but also that they had money in their pockets . The money would enable them to purchase imported and locally-produced goods and services which were necessary in raising their living standards and quality of life . Stories are told that this is how communism was rendered unattractive and prevented from spreading across the entire region . This kind of intentionality has been lacking across the African
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