Africa should feed Africa. What stops us?

Africa: no spoon feeding, please!

You are spoon fed when you are a toddler, too weak to feed yourself. Should we consider ourselves toddlers? Not in the 21^st Century! But are we weak? Do we, Africans, need to be spoon fed?
I don’t think so!
We are now into the fourth day of the Africa Agriculture Science Week. And every moment, I get more and more excited: with all this brain power, with all the innovative skills, with all the willingness, we are strong enough.
“Africa can feed Africa, and Africa should feed Africa”, said one of the speakers this morning.
In my thoughts, I added: We should not be dependent on others to feed ourselves.

We are not toddlers…

We are not toddlers. Toddles need extra care and everything done for them. Neither are we handicapped or weak. Are we too shy to unleash our potential? We are sitting on our potential to feed ourselves and the better part of the world at large. Here are some of the key points I picked up for myself, in the past days, key points that stuck to my mind:

• Invest in youth and women
• National budgets for agriculture have to be increased: for research, extension services, value-chain facilitation
• Proper policies should protect our national resources
• Proper leadership understanding the crucial importance of agriculture
• Science and research should lead politics and not the other way around

The solutions are there, the willingness is there, the brains and muscle is there… So sometimes, I think: “So.. what is stopping us”?
Blogpost inspired by Armwell Shumba, a social media reporter for AASW6.
Photo: C. Carnemark (World Bank)

July 18, 2013 by armwellshumba123 Categories: General Info | Leave a comment