Agriculture is highlighted as a competitive front for Africa. Yet, policy makers in Africa have failed to actualize this strength. Is it that the African governments are not asking the right questions when it comes to agriculture?

It’s also the case that as with most governments in Africa, policy often comes before any strategy. Ideally, strategy should guide policy and implementation plans. In Africa, strategy is the neglected child. For there are four critical questions in the case of designing an appropriate Agro strategy in Africa.

Question One: Up-front Cost Reduction

How does one reduce up-front costs of farming in Africa? Most of Africa’s agro-farming is heavily labour intensive. This involves huge time and manual labour in clearing the land and at plantation. Have African governments championed ways of reducing this land turnaround time?

Question Two: Soil Productivity Improvement

How do you improve productivity per square metre of land in Africa? How do you guarantee consistent and quality land outcomes? In Africa, farm consistency is not a guarantee with highly vulnerable farms. Many farms in Africa are dependent on the natural weather patterns with almost zero fertility enhancements.

Question Three: Post-Harvest Losses

Coupled to the low output per acreage in Africa are the post-harvest losses. There is need to reduce waste upon harvest in Africa. One of the ways is immediate value addition to the harvest produced. Most agro-produce in Africa is sold as fresh with little value addition on the farm.

Question Four: Price Guarantees and Off-take Reliability

The value chains of Agro products in Africa are incomplete. For a value chain that stops mainly at the selling and exporting of fresh produce, it makes it prone to price falls in times of high supply. However, these periods of high supply could be combatted with drying facilities, cold chain facilities, and value addition facilities to guarantee better prices and have a command on the market.