A multimillion-dollar initiative aims to improve market access for African farmers.
The federal government an-nounced a $10 million commitment to the effort in early May, ahead of a series of meetings this month that included last week’s World Economic Forum on Africa.
The funds, to be provided over a five-year period, will support an International Finance Corp. (IFC) project on a continent where tens of millions of farms operate for subsistence and local markets rather than for the global supply chain.
The project, called Enhancing Farmers’ Access to Markets in East and West Africa, aims to include these small farmers, a majority of whom are women, as private sector suppliers by improving produce quality and their ability to meet trade standards.
Read Also
First annual Ag in Motion Junior Cattle Show kicks off with a bang
Ag in Motion 2025 had its first annual junior cattle show on July 15. The show hosted more than 20…
The IFC is a financial institution that works with private industry in developing countries. The initiative will target coffee, cocoa, palm oil and cashew production.
There are 33 million smallholder farms in Africa by one estimate, most of whom are only a few acres in size. They account for up to 90 percent of food production in some African countries.
“By gaining better access to more markets and improving their agricultural practices, farmers have better chances to become more competitive and productive, and to see their incomes increase,” international development minister Christian Paradis said in a statement.
In one report about private sector investment in African agriculture, the organization Grow Africa identified access to reliable market data as one obstacle preventing small farmers from commercializing production.
“Within loosely structured value chains, the risks and unit costs are often too high for smallholders to viably access markets, inputs and services,” the report said.
“This in turn impacts the viability of companies undertaking value-adding activists such as processing.”
Sub-Saharan Africa is set for economic growth of 5.5 percent in 2014, according to the International Monetary Fund.
Speaking at the launch of the Africa Progress Report last week, United Nations secretary-general Kofi Annan said African governments should work harder to reduce inequality that has prevented the benefits of a decade of economic growth from being spread equitably.
“After more than a decade of growth, there is plenty to celebrate,” Annan said at the event.
“But it is time to ask why so much growth has done so little to lift people out of poverty and why so much of Africa’s resource wealth is squandered through corrupt practices and unscrupulous investment activities.”
The report, which was written by the Africa Progress Panel chaired by Annan, advocates sustainable development.
Annan, who is from Ghana, played a central role in shaping the UN’s Millennium Development Goals, which aimed to halve extreme poverty by 2015. He said the next set of targets must have reducing inequality as a core objective.
