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You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/live/2016/sep/07/africa-food-business-stories-debate
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| Is big business a force for good for African farmers? Send in your questions for our live Q&A | Is big business a force for good for African farmers? Send in your questions for our live Q&A |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| 1.54pm GMT | |
| 13:54 | |
| The role of big business | |
| I think its confined to certain sectors, cocoa, coffee, barley, sorghum, for example, but is growing. Increasingly it is about supplying local markets not export markets, to support broader growth within Africa, which brings in different crops. Diageo is currently sourcing just over 75% of our agri raw materials used in Africa from Africa. Collaboration with others can help build opportunities, perhaps through supporting crop rotation market development, and also the development of local processing capacity. | |
| One trend we are seeing is that some multinationals are increasing their engagement in African agriculture in different ways, with the intention of contributing to a more effective, suitable and scalable African agribusiness sector. One of our partners is Partners in Food Solutions, a US-registered non-profit that deploys corporate volunteers to share knowledge and expertise with small and growing food processors to improve the food value chain in Africa. Corporate partners include General Mills, Cargill, Royal DSM, Bühler, The Hershey Company and Ardent Mills. Examples of client companies are Eden Tree in Ghana, Sylva Foods and Comaco in Zambia. | |
| it very much depends on the commodity/value chain. On cocoa, with more than 45% of the production coming from Ivory Coast and Ghana, the involvement of multinationals like Nestle or Mondelez is very important because Africa becomes highly strategic for them. On coffee, it's different, Brazil and Vietnam produce 40% of the worldwide production so Africa is not considered as a place where the multinationals should invest and the coffee production in Africa keeps decreasing both in terms of value, and volumes. On the tea sector, Kenya, Tanzania or Uganda remains very strategic for Unilever, hence their level of investment. It's really a crop by crop analysis. | |
| The potential benefits of multinationals to transform Africa’s agriculture and create wealth in a sustainable manner, without leaving the farmers behind, is yet to be realized largely because of poor investment policies, institutions and regulations. We have observed the growing interest of multinational investments and public-private partnerships in agriculture in Africa over the past 15 years. A review by FAO of such investments indicated that success of such investments have been hampered in countries with weak institutions and capacity. | |
| Multinationals are helping farmers but progress is held back by poor infrastructure development: | |
| Yes, but the intermediary processing sector in Africa seem slow to develop, so you can get situations where a crop is grown there, but cannot be processed there or it is cheaper to import the processed ingredient rather than invest in building local processing capacity. This is where developing infrastructure to support the farming supply network and bring it to markets is important. | |
| Updated | |
| at 1.55pm GMT | |
| 1.28pm GMT | |
| 13:28 | |
| An ageing workforce | |
| A reader, Andrew Shaw, asked the panel for its thoughts on the challenge of an ageing workforce in African agriculture and how for example cocoa farming can attract and engage the youth. | |
| The aging farming population is a challenge that need to be addressed. Efforts to attract youth to agriculture is not yielding much results. A way out is to make agriculture attractive through the application of science and technology. For example agricultural mechanization is a must for Africa's youth to engage in agriculture, but mechanization that is adapted to Africa's agriculture - small holders. Use of technology - in marketing, value addition, trade and agro-processing are areas that need to be promoted. | |
| Andrew is absolutely right. If you look at an industry like cocoa where most of the trees are very old, one of the main challenge is to renew the trees. But renewing a tree means no cocoa for 3 years. Why would you bother if you're 60 years old? But how can you wait for 3 years when you're a young farmer? access to finance to finance that gap is key to convince new generations to invest in farming | |
| I think we need to work with young people to develop farming understanding and support its economic potential. From my experience, many young people don't want to enter farming at least in the way they see their parents farming. If we can help improve market access, and productivity, and utilise technology more, then we can be more optimistic about their interest. | |
| Marco Ferroni: | |
| Aging work force on farms -- almost a global phenomenon. Key issue as I see it is linked to income prospects. Farming can be a profitable and enjoyable business if supported by technology, services of various kinds, access to remunerative markets, good public policies, public investment, infrastructure supporting logistics, on the back of which private investment can ensue. Too many places and settings in Africa and other parts of the world do not enjoy these benefits and basic 'infrastructure' for successful farming. MF | |
| Updated | |
| at 1.52pm GMT | |
| 1.22pm GMT | 1.22pm GMT |
| 13:22 | 13:22 |
| The big challenges | The big challenges |
| For Nico Mounard it is traceability: | For Nico Mounard it is traceability: |
| Traceability. If one cannot trace where the product is coming from, one cannot influence the quality of it, the social impact, the environmental impact and the economic impact. Traceability is absolutely key for the agri-food sector in Africa | |
| For David Croft it is weak farmer organisations that can help develop skills and market access for farmers. The solution, he says, could include co-ops: | |
| It doesn't necessarily need to be formal co-ops to begin with, although they can be a goal and are often present. I think enabling mobilised communities that empower people can provide the stable foundation from which to build. Co-ops bring greater structure that can add further value, but collectives of some sort are the initial goal to support economies of scale in terms of development and access to markets are the first step. We should also consider local and regional markets before international. | |
| For Patrick Kormawa it was the low investment in and use of agricultural inputs such as fertilisers, irrigation and machinery: | |
| I see the low investment in and use of agricultural inputs such as fertilizers, irrigation, agricultural machinery and agro-processing. Despite the importance of these inputs in the agri-food sector, their use in African agriculture is however limited, which have serious consequences for the scope of increasing productivity and the supply of adequate and quality supply of raw materials for agro-food processing and value addition.traceability is also a problem as this is a pre-requisite for international trade. The underdeveloped national quality infrastructure and capacity in the continent also hinders international and inter-African trade. | |
| Updated | Updated |
| at 1.42pm GMT | |
| 4.15pm BST | 4.15pm BST |
| 16:15 | 16:15 |
| The Panel | The Panel |
| Updated | Updated |
| at 12.03pm GMT | at 12.03pm GMT |
| 2.48pm BST | 2.48pm BST |
| 14:48 | 14:48 |
| The debate - what topics we’ll cover | The debate - what topics we’ll cover |
| 11.34am BST | 11.34am BST |
| 11:34 | 11:34 |
| Send in your questions for our panel | Send in your questions for our panel |
| We’ve already been asking you what you think we should cover in our new Spotlight on Africa series. Thank you to everyone who has sent in their thoughts so far. | We’ve already been asking you what you think we should cover in our new Spotlight on Africa series. Thank you to everyone who has sent in their thoughts so far. |
| Topics you’d like us to cover include aquaculture, nutrition and diet, local crop and food diversity, food processing sector, small and medium-sized businesses, ageing workforce in farming sector and engaging youth, population growth in Africa, transport, logistics, communications and the role of mobile phones, potential of livestock sector, food waste, role of women in agri-food sector and promoting entrepreneurship in post-conflict states. | Topics you’d like us to cover include aquaculture, nutrition and diet, local crop and food diversity, food processing sector, small and medium-sized businesses, ageing workforce in farming sector and engaging youth, population growth in Africa, transport, logistics, communications and the role of mobile phones, potential of livestock sector, food waste, role of women in agri-food sector and promoting entrepreneurship in post-conflict states. |
| Ahead of our online debate on November 22nd 1-2pm (GMT) please keep telling us what topics or questions you’d like us to cover or ask the panel. Get in touch using the form below or via twitter @GuardianSustBiz. | Ahead of our online debate on November 22nd 1-2pm (GMT) please keep telling us what topics or questions you’d like us to cover or ask the panel. Get in touch using the form below or via twitter @GuardianSustBiz. |
| Updated | Updated |
| at 4.32pm BST | at 4.32pm BST |
| 11.30am BST | 11.30am BST |
| 11:30 | 11:30 |
| Send in your questions/topics for the debate | Send in your questions/topics for the debate |
| Updated | Updated |
| at 2.50pm BST | at 2.50pm BST |