I was listening to one of the local radio stations this morning and they mentioned an interesting fact. They said that a London-based research team has forecasted that in the next 40 to 42 year, Nigeria‘s oil reserves will have dried up. There was an article I read which was written in 2011 that stated that it is forecasted that oil reserves will dry up by 2048 (37 years from 2011). Even if we don’t know when and if oil will dry up for sure, we have to be very conscious of the risk of it drying up.  Oil is the bedrock of Nigeria’s economic development, accounting for more than 80 per cent of its foreign exchange earnings. If oil dries up…what does this mean? Over 80 percent of forex earning disappears without a substitute? I’m of the opinion that agriculture will be one of the major sectors to fill this gap.

According to the World Bank agricultural growth and productivity remains central to poverty reduction, particularly in the poorest countries, where a large share of the population relies on agriculture  and agribusiness for their livelihood. I read an article in Spores Magazine and below is the summary. I really liked it and it gave a very optimistic picture of the future of Agriculture in Africa.

Senior vice president of global business development and public affairs for Yara International, a leading fertiliser company based in Norway and member of ‘New Vision for Agriculture’, a public-private initiative of the World Economic Forum which aims to promote market-oriented sustainable agricultural development strategies. © Yara

According to Sean De Cleene

• Africa has 60% of the world’s uncultivated arable land and therefore has the scope to make a significant contribution to increasing food production globally.
• The development of new Public Private Partnerships (PPP) for agricultural growth and positive signs of government investment to support agribusinesses, provides a more optimistic outlook for Africa’s agriculture future.
• Africa has some of the lowest yields in the world and yet by doubling yields which equates to achieving just half the global average Africa would not only be able to feed itself but could have significant exports.
• There has been so much change in the last couple of years that I’m very optimistic there is a willingness now to really find a solution.
• In recent years we are seeing Africa start to take control of its own growth agenda, to move away from agriculture as a development programme to agriculture as a business.
• One of the exciting things we are seeing happening is actors being prepared to work together: international NGOs, local civil society and international businesses ( let’s not forget the next-gen african farmers 🙂 ) actually coming together in new innovative PPP to work on sustainable agricultural development.
• Partnerships are developing frameworks which can double or triple yields but keep water impact and carbon footprint unchanged.
• More than half of the African government have signed up to the Maputo Declaration (spending 10% of their gross domestic product on Agric)

These are just a few highlights. You can read the full article using the link below. I thought his interview has some very encouraging words for the next-gen African farmers. Let me know what you think.

Thank you for taking time out to read this post.

http://spore.cta.int/en/component/content/article/29-spore/23/6902-sean-de-cleene