Unlocking Africa’s agricultural development through public-private partnerships, supportive curricula and agriculture friendly policy

With over 25% of the world’s arable land being in Africa, the continent could play a pivotal role in producing food and fiber for itself and for the export basket to feed a waxing global population projected to reach nine billion by 2050. As African countries attained independence, agricultural development was neglected. Governments paid lip-service to agricultural development, and yet agriculture is the cornerstone of industrial development. This neglect is costly, as countries must use scarce foreign exchange to import food. On the other hand, industrialization in developed countries occurred in tandem to successes in agriculture. That resulted in improved living standards and quality of life. Improved quality of life and wholesale industrialization on the African continent will not happen without substantial sustained developments in agriculture. The causes of poor agricultural development in Africa include among others, communal land tenure systems which make it risky for investors, lack of skills in farming as a business, ineffective agricultural services delivery, lack of capacity and capital, as well as price pressure on local agricultural produce from imported subsidized agricultural products. In addition, most countries in Africa lack curricula supportive of agriculture and science in their education continuums, as they also lack policy favorable of agricultural development. Public-private partnerships can be invaluable instruments to pool human and other resources from stakeholders, and work to achieve common goals. Such partnerships help to spread risk, bring private capital investments and agribusiness service delivery skills, and can jump-start agricultural development across Africa. To sustain public-private partnerships, there is among others, the need for supportive agriculture and science-based curricula throughout the education continuum, and favorable policy. When that happens, the continent will transform from a net importer to a net exporter of food and fiber, and thus provide solutions to challenges of feeding itself and a global population of nine billion by 2050. As this occurs, industrialization and economic growth across Africa will ensue, employment will rise, and the quality of life improve. Agriculture is local. Therefore, how each country, province, district, municipality or ward implements the public-private partnerships for agricultural development in Africa will depend on its socioagro- economic circumstances.