The Sunday News
Africa can feed itself. And it can make the transition from hungry importer to self-sufficiency in a single generation.”
According to the Gurdian.com, “This is the claim of a new book that argues that the world’s poorest continent could break its dependence on foreign aid and become a food exporter by realising its rich agricultural potential. Researchers led by Harvard University professor Calestous Juma said they were challenging pessimistic views of Africa, a continent often associated with images of famine and campaigns such as Live Aid and Comic Relief.
“One in three Africans is chronically hungry, according to the UN, despite $3 billion spent on food aid for the continent annually and $33bn in food imports. Population growth and climate change are growing threats. But Juma, author of The New Harvest: Agricultural Innovation in Africa, calls on politicians to put agricultural expansion at the heart of decision-making about everything from transport and communications to education and innovation.
“Juma said Africa was the only continent with arable land readily available to expand agriculture, and that southern Sudan alone could feed all Africans if it was properly developed. His proposal includes the modernisation of farms, with new machinery and storage and processing facilities, and the selective use of genetically modified crops. He calls for new roads, energy sources and irrigation projects.”
The assertion by Juma adds impetus to what President Mugabe has always advocated for; self-sustenance. The President has on many occasions told Zimbabweans and the continent at large to make use of the vast natural resources that we have, and also work on value addition and beneficiation so as to make maximum profits from our natural resources.
The Command Agriculture which has been a resounding success is one of the many initiatives that can be taken to ensure self sustenance. The Government has already announced that there will be no further grain imports in the short to medium term owing to a bumper harvest from Command Agriculture and other support agricultural initiatives spearheaded by President Mugabe.
Last week, President Mugabe handed over a $1 million donation to the African Union as a demonstration that the continent can harness resources to fund operations of the organisation, instead of relying on donors, mostly from the West. And in most cases, donor funds from the West come with “terms and conditions” which have a negative impact on the independence of the organisation.
The money was raised from the sale of cattle donated by President Mugabe, who also received support from the ruling Zanu-PF party members.
“As I have said before in this Assembly, unless and until we can fund our own programmes, the African Union will not be truly our own. The historic decision we took in Johannesburg to progressively increase our assessed contributions to the African Union so that we can, in the next five years, finance 100 percent our operational budget, 75 percent our programme budget and 25 percent of our peace keeping budget, is the beginning of the restoration of our dignity and integrity as a continent,” said President Mugabe, while handing over the donation during the official opening of the 29th Ordinary Sessions of the African Union Heads of State and Government in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, last week.
