Agriculture and politics in Africa

By Susanna Thorp, WRENmedia

 

Many major changes are shaping the politics of African agriculture. Food price volatility, large-scale deals by foreign countries and companies, a growing urban population and demographic changes are all having an impact. 

In the abundance of maize stocks,
Zambia is hit by a serious shortage of mealie meal
in certain parts of the country Picture by Bill Owen Fine Art America

Adebayo Olukoshi of the UN African Institute for Economic Development and Planning in his opening keynote speech at a conference on the political economy of agricultural policy in Africa (PEAPA), said despite the challenges, many on the continent see a positive future. If Afro-pessimism was the mood 10 or 20 years ago, could Afro-optimism - or even Afro-enthusiasm - be a better description of the prevailing mood?  

On a more cautious note, Olukoshi warned that this enthusiasm may mask the challenges ahead. However, he also argued that we should not think of smallholder farmers as being simply passive recipients or victims of policy and political changes. Agricultural politics is not just for high-level discussions, he stated, change often comes from below.

On day two of the PEAPA conference held between 18-20 March in Pretoria, South Africa, a strong call for “donors to go home” was made in the plenary session on CAADP (the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme). “African economies are growing at 4-5% so they have plenty of fiscal resources. 

If donors pulled out, African governments would have to respond by investing more in agriculture,” said Hans Binswanger-Mkhize of the University of Pretoria. However, echoing arguments made by Olukoshi in his keynote, the CAADP plenary panel emphasised that even if more resources become available, this would not necessarily lead to more investment in agriculture. 

“Agriculture is seen as a potential black-hole,” said Mandivamba Rukuni, director of the Policy Development Trust in Zimbabwe. “We have to convince banks and ministries of finance that their support will trigger more wealth; that for every dollar invested, a return of two to three dollars will be achieved.”

During the three days of the conference, organised by the Future Agricultures Consortium and the Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies, politics and agriculture were discussed and debated in sessions on food prices, seed systems, extension and land, amongst many others. 

Whilst progress has been observed in some quarters, farmers are still faced with a structure of incentives loaded against small-scale agriculture, inherited from colonial times and consolidated during the post-colonial period. 

But as stated by Olukoshi in the opening session, “It is a mistake to think that rural communities are voiceless or docile.”

However, for civil society organisations (CSOs) to be more successful in engaging in agricultural policies in Africa, it was stated that CSOs need to “get out of their comfort zone and must invest more in connecting to other players in this process.” Greater successes would be achieved if diverse CSOs, including NGOs, farmer organisations and social movements, worked together and with academia to create a bigger space for engaging in policy processes.

In the closing session of the conference, Lindwe Sibanda of FANRPAN (Food and Natural Resources Policy Analysis Network) remarked that the time was certainly right to discuss politics - but talk must also be translated into action. Engagement of policymakers was required, perhaps by taking experiences from countries to regional communities, as well as looking at ways to hold politicians and others to account.

Smoking Vs Livelihood - Which Way Forward?

By Matongo Maumbi,

Tobacco kills almost five million people each year. If current trends continue, it is projected to kill 10 million people a year by 2020, with 70% of those deaths occurring in developing countries. Tobacco also takes an enormous toll in health care costs, lost productivity, and of course the intangible costs of the pain and suffering inflicted upon smokers, passive smokers and their families.

In May 2003, the member countries of the World Health Organization adopted a historic tobacco control treaty, the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), which has the potential to reduce this terrible toll.

Zambia signed the treaty to be party to the FCTC in 2007 but has lagged behind in putting to effect the recommendations under the treaty.

The FCTC is encouraging governments to increase tax on tobacco and related substances so as to discourage would-be smokers and those that are already in the habit. Is it the nation's well-being or the nation's wealth that counts here? Certainly the nation has to have a healthy citizenry so that they become much more productive.

The objective of the FCTC is "to protect present and future generations from the devastating health, social, environmental and economic consequences of tobacco consumption and exposure to tobacco smoke." The Preamble of the FCTC recognises the need for countries to give priority to their right to protect public health, the unique nature of tobacco products and the harm that companies that produce them cause.

Tobacco tax increases are encouraged in the FCTC, but the Zambian Government is doing the direct opposite. The treaty states that "each Party should take account of its national health objectives concerning tobacco control" in its tobacco tax and price policies. The treaty recognizes that raising prices through tax increases and other means "is an effective and important means of reducing tobacco consumption by various segments of the population, in particular young persons."

The momentum after signing was good because just a year later, in April 2008, Zambia passed on a law that prohibits smoking in public places but its implementation leaves much to be desired as local authorities are finding it very difficult to do so.

The other challenge that has been in enforcing the ban on smoking in public places is the non-availability of smoking zones in offices or just any other place. Smokers believe that if they are smoking in open space, then they are not affecting anyone around them as the wind will blow away the smoke.

AND to add salt to the challenge on the ban, tobacco farmers recently attending the Intern-ational Tobacco Growers Association (ITGA) Africa Regional Meeting in Lusaka Zambia have strongly opposed proposals by the World Health Organisation's (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) that threaten the region's econ-omies.

According to a story by The Financial Gazette of Zimbabwe, the declaration came from agricultural leaders from Kenya, Malawi, So-uth Africa, Tanzania, Zam-bia, and Zimbabwe.

The FCTC now recommends, among other things, that governments phase out tobacco farming by limiting ­­­the land where it can be grown and endorsing the dismantling of all bodies relating governments with growers-such as the tobacco boards-thus putting farmers' livelihoods at risk while failing to offer an economically viable alternative crop.

At the Zambian meeting, all tobacco growing countries were urged to defend the interests of tobacco farmers that provide employment and income for thousands of African farmers and their families by rejecting the draft policy recommendations for Articles 17 and 18 and urging other governments to reject the draft recommendations, as long as they just aim to destroy the tobacco farmer's livelihoods.

Articles 17 and 18 focus on the provision of economically sustainable alternatives to tobacco growing and protection of the environment. Very little research on alternative, economically viable crops has been undertaken and as the group recognises, any future research will require lengthy time trials.

However, the FCTC has now put forward unreasonable and absurd measures to phase out tobacco production, without offering the vast African producers that heavily rely on tobacco any viable fall-back solutions."

The meeting also observed that the working group responsible for these proposals known as the working group for Articles 17 and 18 is being driven by health officers with little to no real world knowledge of agriculture , tobacco farming , or the challenges faced by farmers and farm workers living in rural areas.

"The working group should be reminded that the FCTC has acknowledged that the tobacco farming community should be involved at every stage of policy development and implementation. Yet it has failed at any time to meaningfully consult farmers or the associations that represent them and their interests on specific, detailed, and credible options to other viable crops, ignoring the reiterated offers of co-operation by growers organisations from all over the world," ITGA said.

ITGA also called on governments to request the working group for Articles 17 and 18 to revise its draft policy recommendations, to seek input from tobacco farmers' organizations and agricultural policy specialists on specific, detailed, and credible options for diversification with alternative crops.

The association which represent millions of farmers and tobacco workers and countless tobacco farming communities in Kenya, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe refused to accept the FCTC systematic discrimination of tobacco growers.

"All tobacco farmers, farm workers, and farming communities should acti-vely and collectively def-end their land, their jobs, and their livelihood from efforts to deny the right to produce the legal crops that better assure their economic prosperity and we should remain actively engaged in opposing these proposals," ITGA added.

Since the adoption of the FCTC, the ITGA has argued that these measures will have disastrous social and economic consequences without making any difference to peoples' health.

In spite of ringing the alarm bells, the ITGA's request for a seat at the table has been rejected, dismissing farmers as "interferences".

Nonsmokers must be protected in workplaces, public transport and indoor public places. The treaty recognizes that exposure to tobacco smoke has been scientifically proven to cause death, disease and disability. It requires all Parties to implement effective measures to protect non-smokers from tobacco smoke in public places, including workplaces, public transport and indoor public places -- evidence indicates that only a total smoking ban is effective in protecting non-smokers.

The Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) is the first treaty initiated by the World Health Assembly, the governing body of the World Health Organization (WHO). Negotiations began in October 1999 and concluded on March 1st 2003. The FCTC was adopted at the World Health Assembly on May 23, 2003 and is now open for signature and ratification. TB

(with excerpts from Framework Convention Alliance and Tobacco Information & Prevention Source – TIPS)

Anna: strong and hardworking

Anna: 'Even now I am still strong. I do all the work on my own.'

Anna became pregnant when still at school. Her family was tough with her, saying she must pay the price of her “negligent body”. She says that she is grateful as she learned to be strong and hardworking. She later married but her husband is ill and they can’t afford the drugs he needs.

Anna believes it is vital for women not to be financially dependent on men. Now her husband is unable to work she has to do everything for their five children, as well as work on a tobacco farm.

Even so, she counts every blessing. “Poverty is having nothing… I am not poor because I am able to sell a few things and when they’re bought I am able to have some money. There are things I lack…. I don’t have a well or a latrine… If I had these things…I could have been vegetable gardening and poverty would be history.”

My name is Anna…I was born in 1956 in Monze. Before going to school, I was helping with farming at home… We grew groundnuts, [sweet potatoes] and maize, and I even [helped] apply cow manure in the field around October…

We were even encouraged to sow seeds and learn how best to do it. They did this to prepare us for our survival in the future. They gave us our own small piece of land to practice on. After harvest, we could sell our produce and earn some money.

To protect the soil and have good growth with our crops, we never applied fertiliser. We just planted. Even with groundnuts, you don’t apply any chemicals. This applies to sweet potatoes too. For maize we applied cow manure. The crops grew well without chemicals.

Crop rotation existed. If this year we had groundnuts, the following year we would have maize. Some years they would grow sunflower, as it transformed the land for better. I got this knowledge from my parents. My grandfather practiced this a lot…

Today

The change I am seeing is that the land can no longer produce good crops without chemical fertiliser… I preferred using manure because you would not need to apply any other chemicals to have a good yield. With fertiliser, when you apply basal fertiliser, you also have to apply top dressing otherwise your maize will die.

What has made my field barren is the use of these different kinds of fertiliser. This year you apply this kind and the following year you apply a different kind. This destroys the fields…

We no longer apply manure as most cattle are dead because of denkete (foot and mouth disease)…so where can you find the manure? My [standard of living is] going down…because I no longer have the yields that I had in previous years…

Back to the past

[In] the past…life was good. Our daily livelihood was very good because we never bought cooking oil, we would pound groundnuts to mix with vegetables and eat this with the children. In samp (pounded maize and beans) we mixed buntele (pounded groundnuts). Nowadays we no longer add groundnuts because…production has gone down…

My father had three wives and he had one big grain bank that he used to help his family and his whole clan. If anyone had a problem, they would go to my father for help. The old man would not take anything from the grain bank of his wives; he would get it from the main bank of the village…[this practice] no longer exists.

Motherhood as a schoolgirl

When I finished… actually I didn’t finish school – I became pregnant [laughs]. I became pregnant in Form One. Afterwards I started growing groundnuts so that I may take care of my child. When time for harvesting came, I would get my yield and have something for my child.

It was difficult to get clothes for my child – they told me that I got pregnant deliberately, to stop school. I was told to raise the child on my own. Whatever problem I was in because of my negligent body, they told me, I was to “find my own way out”.

The difficult part was fending for myself. But this was good, for I learnt a lot of things. I learnt how to farm, how to grow sweet potatoes. Even now I am still strong. I do all the work on my own. This is how I raise money for my children although I am now married.

In the initial stage [of motherhood], I felt greatly troubled… I wanted to continue school after [weaning] the child, but there was no one to sponsor me… Today I have come to realise that what they did was good for me. If they had just kept quiet and left me unpunished, I would not have learnt anything.

They made me strong and I am still strong and hard-working. I am still doing the work I did then. I learnt all this through the punishment they gave me [laughs]… The [first child] is now married and has a farm in Kapiri…

The importance of independence

I would encourage women not to rely on men… Now, [imagine] your husband dies, and you remain with no business of your own – you would really be in trouble.

These days, even when you are with your husband, you must be something too. If you can’t do business… then cut grass. There are plenty of people in need of fodder. Get firewood and sell it. You will be able to find money to help your children.

These days some women are free to do business ventures; others cannot manage. Some have no start-up capital…. Like I said, if you cut grass you can sell it, but some fail even to do this. They are never thinking of where or how to get money to do a business venture.

I am managing because I do not wait for someone to come to buy my goods. Whoever is on the road can buy from me as long as I have my items on display…

Begging for water

I had such a [good] harvest in 1979. I harvested 25 bags of maize. With this maize I managed to send my child to Kalomo Secondary. Now there is nothing. I just have a very few [bags]…which cannot even be put in a grain bank…

If you are based near a stream, you can do vegetable gardening. Problems are lessened when you garden. Water here is a problem, especially now that the rainfall is poor. We have to beg for water from those that have it. The hand pump is broken. The wells are drying up. We go round asking those that have got wells: you get one container filled here and you go and ask another to fill your other container and so on…

I started digging [a well nearby]. The only problem is that I have run out money to pay the ones doing the digging. The well is left at shoulder height due to lack of money. The water is bad [for drinking] because there is no chemical added to destroy the germs [but] my body has somehow become resistant to them.

No money for medicine

The disease that has disturbed my family is vomiting…accompanied by diarrhea. I have lost two children from this disease… We have a clinic but it’s not opened yet… my old man (husband) has had problems with his legs…since last August.

I find there are more diseases now compared to previous years. We never went to the hospital in the past. You could just dig up musampinzyo (wild root) and give it to your child to drink. You would get mululwe (wild root; very bitter) and he would get better. We could cure any kind of disease, but nowadays even when you go to the hospital, you could die. This is where I draw the difference…

What has brought an increase in disease, here in Mwapona, is that the water we drink is not safe… We have also had scabies of late and malnutrition…We go to Shaampande [clinic]. It’s far. We go on foot [and] when the patient can’t walk we borrow a bicycle to carry them. If the drugs are there, they give [you them]. But when they don’t have them, they give you a prescription…

If you don’t have money, you just stop. My old man is in bed. He was given a prescription but he can’t afford to buy the drugs. We still have the prescription…

“What makes me poor…”

Poverty is having nothing…I am not poor because I am able to sell a few things and…to have some money. There are things I lack. I don’t have a well or a latrine. If I had things like the well, I could have been vegetable gardening and poverty would be history.

I would say I had a better life in the past…. What makes me poor is the illness of my old man, the head of the house. I have to fend for everything to help my children, to keep them in school. I have five children going to school… I have to pay for them all.

Previously I never had problems because I had few children going to school… only three. I used to manage to pay for them and the old man at that time was working. When he got paid he would assist me and when I made some sales it would also help. It is now difficult because I am now all alone doing the work to help the children.

I do this through casual work. I work at a farm… I harvest tobacco. At the month’s end I am paid 120,000 Kwacha. I use this money to help my children…We use firewood [for cooking]. We work for it on the nearby farms. Charcoal is available but expensive…

Social change

[In] the past a girl would really reach maturity, and when I say maturity I mean all the features of a girl are visible. You would feel that you are now somebody. This is the time you would think of getting married. These days even a small girl knows how to attract boys. Is it the world that has changed or is it something else? What has gone wrong? I don’t know…

I have a big family with eight children…two have died. I also have grandchildren.

I was in a polygamous marriage and found it to be very bad…the friendship that existed [between co-wives] was nothing but pretence. When you are not there, the other one doesn’t take good care of your children. This is the bad aspect…

Of the children I bore, one is married in Namwala, the other has a farm in Kapiri. These two children assist me a lot. If am in trouble and go to them, they are able to assist me….

A son with HIV

I have a child who was infected with HIV in 1981… My son got infected because he never heeded my advice. It was sad news. I really suffered to take care of him. He was even insulting me when I was trying to care for him. I never discriminated against him. He is my child… if I were to avoid him; he would have no one to take care of him…

In Mwapona HIV and AIDS is widespread… Like now, there are seven funerals in this area… When you have a bereavement, you can go to the [section] Chairman and he is able to donate mealie meal (maize meal) and firewood to help you with the funeral…

Kara Counselling [and Training Trust] is busy teaching us the best preventive measures. They brought things like condoms…[but] the disease will continue to rise because some use them while others do not… Although they are taught what to do, they don’t follow instructions…

Development

Mmmmmh…..the government and development…they had given us a hand pump, but it’s already broken. When there is hunger and starvation, they assist us with food. Recently they constructed a community school…They are also building a clinic though it’s not operational yet. This is the development I am seeing in Mwapona.

[Clubs?] Let me not lie. I never join such groups. The only group that I hear of a lot in Choma is this one that has come to give loans to people… I can’t remember the other one. They give loans to women to start up businesses such selling beer. [About] those other organisations, I have no idea…. there is none [that has helped me].

We have failed to improve our country because farming has gone down. We had the Namboards (National Maize Boards). These are no longer in existence. We had cooperatives; they are also dead. This means agriculture has really gone down.

I have paw paws, guavas and some mangoes [at home]… We need to protect them because when they bear fruit, they are a source of food. You can survive on mangoes in times of hunger. The guavas bear fruit at a different time… so you can also survive on them…

Cutting trees to survive

I know the law that protects trees. They should not be cut because if there are no trees, rainfall would be very poor. A good example is Kapiri where they don’t allow cutting of trees. There is good rainfall there.

Here in Choma, it’s hunger that’s the problem. People produce charcoal for a living. Some have licenses while others do not. Chief Singani had at one time stopped them from cutting down trees, but their response was that it was their only livelihood.

The land has become poor and there is no fertiliser. Even when you try to plant something, there are no good yields. This is what makes them continue with charcoal production – to earn a living…

Tonga traditions

In the yesteryears, if there wasn’t good rainfall, we would hold Lwiindi (rainmaking or thanksgiving ceremony to celebrate end of a good harvest) and we would receive rain. This is now hardly practiced and in some areas it no longer exists…

We need Lwiindi because in the past it was working very well. If they had no rain for a week, they would go to the shrine and ask for rain, and the rain would come whilst they are at the shrine. But today this no longer happens.

The way forward

What I need [from the government] is a piece of land, especially for those of us who no longer have relatives to turn to. When you are given that piece of land, you would settle there. Then you can be able to farm and feed your children. When I have the land they can assist me with fertiliser and seeds. Then I can take it from there.

This interview has been specially edited for the web and cut down by more than half. Some re-ordering has taken place: square brackets indicate ‘inserted’ text for clarification; round brackets are translations / interpretations; and dots indicate cuts in the text. The primary aim has been to remain true to the spirit of the interview, while losing questions, repetition, and confusing or overlapping sections.

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