1. Vegetables for Enhancing
Smallholder Livelihoods and
Nutrition in Africa: Trends,
Opportunities and Emerging
Challenges
Dr. Victor Afari-Sefa
World Vegetable Center, BENIN REPUBLIC
Email:<victor.afari-sefa@worldveg.org>
2017 Forum on African Vegetables : From Plot to Plate
Sun Beach Hotel, Cotonou, BENIN REPUBLIC, November 20, 2017
2. 1. Importance of vegetables in human nutrition
2. Growing importance of urban and peri-urban systems
3. Trends in SSA vegetable sector development
4. Opportunities for improving smallholder livelihoods
5. Challenges in SSA vegetable sector development
6. Going forward in the world of vegetables
Presentation outline
3. Imbalanced diets: Lack of micronutrients
= HUNGE
MICRONUTRIENT
DEFICIENCY
Lack of sufficient
vitamins & minerals
2 billion
malnourished
OVER
CONSUMPTION
Excess calories ≥ 1.9 billion
overweight
HUNGER
Lack of calories &
protein
≥ 462 million
underweight
Source: WHO; IFAD; WFP, 2017
1. An unhealthy World : Triple burden
4. • Triple burden: Co-existence of (1) food
insecurity, (2) undernutrition, and (3)
overweight
• More than 3M children die each year due
to undernutrition
• First 1,000 days of children affects
physical and mental development
• Number of stunted children <5 years from
1990-2014
– Worldwide: decline from 255M to 159M
– In WCA: increased from 19.9M to 28M
• Malnutrition costs African economies
between 3% (Swaziland) to 16% (Ethiopia)
of GDP annually (Source:
www.costofhungerafrica.com)
Malnutrition has both health & economic impacts
7. WHO
recommended
146 kg
kg/person/year
Source: Msangi and Rosegrant 2011. Feeding the Future’s Changing Diets.
2000
2000-2030 change
WHO recommends
146 kg or 400 g/day
Per capita fruit/vegetables consumption to 2030
8. Undernutrition, especially micronutrient deficiencies
o TAVs are often rich in micronutrients and other health
promoting phytochemicals; complement staple foods and
improve nutritional quality of diets
Overnutrition, the growing obesity problem
o Inadequate consumption of F&V associated with NCDs (i.e.,
diabetes and hypertension). Increased consumption of F&V will
will ensure balanced diets to control such diseases
Health benefits: TAVs such as African eggplant has been
found to possess protective properties against ulcers; cheap
source of natural anti-ulcer remedy (Chioma et al., 2011).
Income generation, foreign exchange with linkages to
other sectors of economy (e.g., services and industry).
Employment generation, esp. for women’s empower-
ment and youth, particular for urban and peri-urban markets
Vegetables recognized for critically addressing:
9. The world’s largest public collection (≈ 60,000 accessions) of
vegetable germplasm: WorldVeg Genebank
10. In east and southern Africa, 50% of
tomato and 98% of African eggplant seed
produced commercially in the region were
varieties developed by the World
Vegetable Center.
WorldVeg and NARES invested US$ 6.9
million in research, extension, and
promotion of these two crops.
These varieties generated economic
gains of US$ 254 million for tomato and
US$ 5 million for African eggplant in
Tanzania alone.
That’s an almost 30% rate of return for
tomato and 12% for African eggplant!
Is it worth investing in Vegetable R&D?
11. • Africa’s urbanization is the fastest in the world
with 56% of the population expected to be
urban-based by 2050.
• In response, agric. systems need to become
more efficient with production concentrated in
urban areas (greener cities) or close-by.
• Horticulture is perhaps the fastest growing sub-
sector within UPA systems.
• Opportunities esp. for women who can take
advantage of the short VCs for close-by
markets. Also for pedagogy at schools
• While vegetables offer massive potential,
successful cultivation is dependent on
knowledge and quality inputs e.g., efficient
seed systems.
2. Growing importance of urban and peri-
urban production/marketing systems in SSA
13. • Farmers can make good profits on relatively
small urban land plots, esp. with TAVs, and
can take advantage of the ‘supermarket’
revolution currently experienced in the region
• Opportunities for year-round supply of
premium quality produce, esp. under
protected cultivation systems to meet
consumer demands.
• While urban agriculture can be a stepping
stone out of poverty, it suffers from weak
investment, largely the result of inadequate
access to finance land access issues.
• Urban and peri-urban market gardening is
critical with related consumer concerns about
food safety issues (i.e., pesticide residues,
human pathogens & heavy metals) and
sustainability of production methods
Importance of urban & peri-urban systems
14. • Over the past 12,000 years, 7,000 plant species
and several thousand animal species have
been used for human nutrition and health.
• Since 20th century, global trends have been
towards diet simplification amidst urbanization.
• Today, only 12 plant crops and 14 animal
species provide 98% of World’s food needs.
• Promote awareness of the importance of food
biodiversity, including wild, TAVs, also in
response to increasing consumer demands for
increased variety, freshness, and healthy and
safe options in their eating choices.
• Unfortunately, markets are fragmented and
unorganised with superfluous intermediaries,
posing multiplicity of problems in linking
vegetable growers to markets.
• Future for vegetables and its foundation
sciences within such an environment is
exhilarating, tricky, motivating and surely
worthwhile.
3. Trends in vegetable sector devt. in SSA
15. • Great opportunity to reduce imports e.g. tomato paste
and fresh onions in SSA
• Growing international and regional exports,
• Increased demand for processed vegetables as
ready to eat food (e.g., healthy snacks, single
vegetable / cocktail drinks) and in school feeding
• Successful public-private partnerships (agro-industry
linkages & services)
• ICT for production, logistics, markets and financial
transactions
• Donor resources available for improving quality, food
safety and enhanced nutrition/utilization.
4. Opportunities for vegetable sector devt.
16. Region 1993 (tons) 2003 (tons) 2013 (tons)
Western Africa 43,154 119,625 399,624
Eastern Africa 1,073 6,210 18,464
Central Africa 19,282 34,282 59,169
Southern Africa 862 9,127 17,997
SSA 64,371 169,244 495,254
Nigeria 0 45,600 166,579
Import of tomato paste into sub-Saharan Africa
(FAOSTAT, accessed 10 November 2017)
17. Region 1993 (tons) 2003 (tons) 2013 (tons)
Western
Africa 62,822 173,773 441,989
Eastern Africa 7,469 22,715 86,960
Central Africa 9,880 17,809 74,725
Southern
Africa 5,728 10,030 18,706
SSA 85,899 224,327 622,380
Senegal 18,068 55,214 131,904
Côte d'Ivoire 13,139 76,017 91,010
Sierra Leone 6,400 3,867 17,095
Import of onions into sub-Saharan Africa
(FAOSTAT, accessed 10 November 2017)
18. “Golden tomatoes for
juice and healthy
drinks”
High quality
Nutritious
Good marketability
Resistance to multiple
diseases
One single improved
tomato can provide a
person’s full daily
vitamin A requirements
Contains 3 to 6
times more
vitamin A
than standard
types
High quality, nutritious: ‘Golden’ tomatoes
19. I. TECHNICAL CHALLENGES
• Variety development
– site specific, consumer and
market demands, indigenous
varieties, pests and
diseases/IPM
• Inadequate value chains and market
organizations
– Infrastructure, agribusiness
clusters, market information,
input supply chains
5. The Challenge: Vegetables must be
Available, Affordable, Safe & Nutritious
20. • Sustainable Production Systems and
NRM including climate-smart prod.
– IPM, ISFM, efficient use of
water/land/labor/capital, climate
adaptation
• Good agricultural practices
– Seed beds, land preparation,
planting, grafting, harvesting
• Post-harvest issues and food safety
– technology, logistics, packaging,
varieties, meeting standard and
regulations
The Challenge: Vegetables must be Available,
Affordable, Safe & Nutritious…
21. II. ORGANIZATIONAL CHALLENGES
– Inconsistent supply to markets, sub-
optimal post harvest handling, processing
and storage, sub-quality standards
– Lack of credit, inputs (seed), business
skills
III. INSTITUTIONAL CHALLENGES
– Present void in the number of tertiary-
level educated horticultural professionals
in SSA
– Lack of R&D and value chain capacity.
Funding difficulties for public sector R&D
– Lack of enabling policies and regulatory
frameworks
Produce sufficient
quantities of quality at the
right time and sell to
consumers fast.
This requires...
… Aggregation of
production, processing and
marketing capacity for
year-round supply that is
consistent and reliable.
Vegetable challenges
22. IV. FOOD SAFETY AND HEALTH RISKS
– Water quality (urban areas)
– Microbial contamination before and after
harvest
– Indiscriminate use of pesticides and
other chemicals
V. DEVELOPING
CLIMATE SMART
SYSTEMS
Vegetable challenges
23. TECHNICAL INNOVATIONS
Improved storage and
handling
• Simple improved
containers to reduce
mechanical damage
during transport
• Appropriate varieties
with longer shelf life
• Low-cost cold storage
structures; solar dryers
Good agricultural
practices
• Drip irrigation
• Protected
cultivation
• Grafting
• IPM
• Vertical gardening
(urban areas)
• Climate smart
systems: heat and
salt tolerant varieties,
use of low quality/waste
water and more efficient
application methods
Improved breeding
lines
• Disease, insect
resistance
• Heat, flooding,
salinity tolerance
• Long shelf life
• Nutritional quality
Going forward in the world of vegetables
24. • Agriculture / nutrition / health communities to
promote home gardens & WASH in rural areas
• Aggregation of production, processing and
marketing capacity & produce for specific markets
(pack-house model)
• Link farmers as out-growers to lead vegetable
processing and marketing firms
• Support establishment of vertically integrated
corporations near cities (e.g. tomato or tomato
paste production)
• Establish direct linkages to markets for high
quality, nutritious vegetables – opportunity for
urban growers (e.g. wholesale and retail,
supermarkets, hospitals, or health-conscious
consumers)
Organizational innovations
25. • Promote healthy diets through publicity, education,
training
• Stimulate private sector involvement, starting with
seed sector
• Promote supportive policies to facilitate investment in
drip-irrigation and protected cultivation systems and
processing and storage facilities
• Introduce low-cost but reliable regulatory and
traceability frameworks to monitor chemical residues
and microbial contamination in vegetables
• Stimulate vegetable R&D (e.g. climate-smart and
nutritious vegetables; new production systems for peri-
urban and urban areas)
• Establish durable links between research and public
and private sector scaling partners to ensure rapid
diffusion and feedback. Horticulture specific databases
Institutional innovations
27. Vegetable R&D can contribute to vegetable sector
development and thereby help:
– Reduce malnutrition in Africa
– Improve economic growth
– Create employment for women and youth
Main challenges:
Simultaneously address supply, demand and quality
Promote healthy diets and WASH in both rural and urban areas
Main opportunities:
Africa’s growing cities seeking safe and reliable sources of
quality vegetables: great scope for agri-business development
Replacing imports of global vegetables by local production
Summary & conclusions
