Agriculture Research and Poverty Reduction: Pathways and Drivers in West and Central Africa

O
Agriculture Research and Poverty
Reduction: Pathways and Drivers in
West and Central Africa
By
Baba Yusuf Abubakar
Executive Secretary,
Agricultural Research Council of Nigeria
12TH – 14TH April, 2016

OutlineO
1. Introduction
2. Dimensions of Rural Poverty in WCA
3. Agricultural Research Pathways & Rural
Prosperity
4. Rethinking the Pathways to Rural Prosperity:
Key Drivers
5. Multisectoral & Multistakeholder Partnerships
6. Conclusion

1. IntroductionO
 Agriculture is a major driver of rural poverty
reduction.
 Agricultural growth reduces poverty directly by
raising farm incomes, and indirectly through
employment generation and reduction in food
prices.
 There are challenges limiting agricultural sector’s
potentials to decisively reduce rural poverty.
 In spite of several efforts and programmes to
combat poverty, it is still endemic in SSA.

…IntroductionO
 Indicates the dynamic nature of poverty and the
need for appropriate, effective, multidimensional
and inclusive strategies towards poverty
reduction.
 Rural poverty reduction discuss must take
agriculture, R&D, climate change, environmental
sustainability and non-farm activities into account.
 Therefore: “How do we conceptualize and
formulate research agenda that would lead to
better inclusive growth and more sustainable
rural prosperity?”

2. DIMENSIONS OF RURAL POVERTY IN
WCAO
Rural poverty connotes living conditions very close to
bare subsistence
Poverty is predominantly rural in WCA
Some of the World’s poorest countries are in the sub-
region.
Between 2000 & 2010, rural poverty declined in West
Africa but increased in mid-Africa (IFAD 2011)

…DIMENSIONS OF RURAL POVERTY IN
WCA
O
 SSA has the highest incidence of rural poverty and hunger
 >300 million rural poor in SSA
 >60% of rural poor live on less than US$1.25/day,
 About 90% live on less than US$2/day in SSA.
Causes of rural poverty are complex and
multidimensional involving:
 forces of nature,
 markets and
 public policy

…DIMENSIONS OF RURAL POVERTY IN
WCAO
Rural poor households have diverse sources of
livelihood, which is either farm or non-farm
“Agenda for rural growth and poverty reduction should
be contextual with robust attention to smallholder
agriculture, but greater recognition to the importance of
non-farm self-employment and wage labour”

3. Agricultural Research PathwaysO
1. Agricultural Productivity Growth
 Some improvement in agricultural productivity
growth in SSA in recent time
 However, agricultural productivity in SSA still
lags behind other regions of the world (Figure 1)
 Several evidence that agricultural productivity is
an important link to poverty reduction
 Agricultural research technologies are also critical
factors in achieving productivity growth in SSA
(Figure 2)

Figure 1: Growth in agric. factor productivity in
SSAO

Figure 1: Technologies adoption & Agric.
ProductivityO

… Agricultural Research PathwaysO
 Pathways through which agricultural productivity
would promote prosperity:
 Real income changes,
 Employment generation,
 Rural non-farm multiplier effects, and
 Food prices effect
 The rural poor may be excluded from the gains of
agricultural productivity growth through:
 Barriers to technologies adoption,
 Initial asset endowment and
 Constraints to market access

In driving to achieve agricultural productivity growth
through technology innovations, with the aim of
reducing poverty, there is need to ask several
fundamental questions relating to the multiple
pathways out of poverty and potential barriers to
the poors’ participation in such productivity gains.

2. Increasing investment in agricultural research
Inclusive growth in agriculture is critical to promoting
rural prosperity in Africa
 R4D and Deployment of Appropriate Technology is
one of the key drivers of inclusive growth
 Definite shift from the current narrow approach to
a more holistic sector growth approach required
 Scaling up agricultural R4D financing will enhance
agriculture productivity and rural economies’
ability to offer more employment and provide
diverse income opportunities (see Figure 3)

Figure 3: Growth in Agric R&D funding in SSA
O
***Growth in R&D funding should be sustained and long term***

3. Value Chain Development
 Agricultural value chain provides a high level of inclusive
opportunities for farmers and non-farmers in rural areas.
 SMEs integration in agriculture and agro-industry value
chains is critical to employment generation, income
opportunities, unlocking of untapped market
opportunities, sectoral growth, etc.
 Adequate support to smallholders in form of
entrepreneurial training and micro enterprises for
greater integration along the value chains

4. Market and Market Competitiveness
 Lack of access to markets due to non-compliance to
standards, inadequate information, non-competitiveness,
etc.
 Well-functioning markets populated by a dynamic and
innovative private sector are required.
 While addressing the challenge of competitiveness,
markets must be developed to serve agriculture and
strengthen the agribusiness.
 Improved access to markets could open up new non-farm
activities that are more likely to increase income and
food security

5. Policy reforms that would strengthen incentives to
farmers
 Policy reforms that have improved economic incentives
for farmers appear to have contributed to higher
agricultural productivity in some SSA countries
 With stronger economic incentives and freer markets,
farmers tend to invest more in agriculture and allocate
resources more efficiently.
 Reduced policy distortions unfavorable to agriculture
leads to widespread adoption of new technologies and
more rapid productivity growth.
 Greater Policy advocacy and linkages

4. Rethinking the Pathways to Rural
Prosperity: Key DriversO
1. Climate Resilience Strategy
 Climate change and other environmental challenges
have serious consequences for rural poverty in WCA
 Resource poor farmers are both key contributors to and
victims of climate change.
 Serious focus on climate smart agriculture in WCA
required.
 Development, adaptation and scaling up of effective
climate smart technologies and innovative practices
 Identify, review and commit funding to areas of
priorities

…Rethinking the Pathways to Rural
2. Institutional reforms
 SSA is not sufficiently integrated into the global
economy due to the weakness of its infrastructure, lack
of qualified human resources, and low level industrial
development,.
 To facilitate its inclusion in the world economy, the
region must begin to make significant institutional
reforms that would refocus the functions of the state
towards its essential mission of developing needed
public services, etc.

3. Agricultural Research-Health-Nutrition Nexus
 Agricultural sector presents key opportunities for
improving nutrition and health.
 Potential impacts of agricultural activities on health and
nutrition includes impact on households’ ability to
produce, purchase and consume more, better and
cheaper food.
 For greater impact, multidimensional agricultural
research approach are required to address the issues of
nutrition and health.

4. Smallholders strategies
 Smallholders account for about 80% of agricultural
output in WCA.
 Strategies that lift majority of smallholders from poverty
will most likely lead to greater rural prosperity and
must be complemented with rural education, etc.
 Examples are resource use efficiencies, smallholder
friendly agricultural technological innovations,
community based-smallholder seed multiplication, other
strategies that would transit them from small to semi
and large farms, etc.

5. Agriculture, R&D and Pro-Poor Technologies
 To achieve overall agriculture productivity
improvements, adaptable and better technologies
particularly tailored to meet the needs and
environments of smallholder farmers are required.
 Technologies deployment is effective for poverty
reduction when supported by long term comprehensive
pro-poor public policies and provision of adequate
public funding critical to responsive research.

5. …Agriculture, R&D and Pro-Poor Technologies
 Adequately consider correct technology – environment-
targeted user context mix for more effective and
sustained poverty reduction
 Commercialize smallholder agriculture and help farmers
to evolve into sustainable economic units – This is a
robust pathway towards encouraging more inclusive
growth and realizing sustained poverty reduction.

6. Value Chain Innovation Platforms
 A value chain innovation platform is a network of all
economic and institutional actors/stakeholders who
have vested interest in the commodity.
 The purpose is to foster partnership among various
stakeholders, share information and knowledge that
may resolve challenges to increase productivity, income
and enhanced livelihood.
 Experiences with Value Chain Innovation Platform in
Nigeria has shown some great potentials in solving the
complex problems facing the individual farmers and
farmers’ group

5. Partnerships for Rural ProsperityO
 To sustainably promote rural prosperity:
 Partnerships must cut across farm and non-farm sectors.
 Partnership, either with traditional or non-traditional
partners, should leverage expertise in all sectors that
would address poverty and other major problems that
affect the livelihood of the poor either directly or indirectly.
 Agricultural research should partner with organizations or
groups that have similar vision of lifting people out of
poverty
 Partnerships must involve pro-poor institutions and
representatives of the poor

ConclusionO
 Boosting agricultural output growth in SSA will
likely require faster rates of growth in both the use
of resources and productivity.
 There is strong need to develop research agenda
that would address the key issues of sustainable
intensification, agricultural & food systems for
nutrition & health and expansion and improvement
of agricultural markets & trade.
 The outcomes are likely to impact better on
substantially reducing poverty while increasing rural
prosperity for the poor of the poorest.

Agriculture Research and Poverty Reduction: Pathways and Drivers in West and Central Africa

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Agriculture Research and Poverty Reduction: Pathways and Drivers in West and Central Africa