Agriculture leads to the MDGs: rural development in Africa.

• Author: Denning, Glenn
• Position: Millennium Development Goals

Agricultural productivity improvements have been a major driving force of social and economic change in human societies for millennia. The traditional production of crops and livestock fulfilled household requirements for food, fiber, fuel, medicine and other essential consumables. Surpluses and the income derived from them opened up opportunities for specialized roles for producers, processors and traders of agricultural products and for the emergence of specialist services.

This evolution from subsistence to market-oriented agriculture provided the foundation of a structural transformation--a dynamic process that leads to a relative decline of the agriculture sector and to a more diversified and productive economy dominated by manufacturing and services--as observed throughout Europe, North America and Japan, and more recently in China and India. (1) In most African countries, the majority of the population remains engaged in agriculture with economies at the very early stages of structural transformation. These countries exhibit low agricultural productivity, limited growth of non-farm employment and relatively high population growth rates. (2)

In large part, the generation of surplus production over and above basic household needs was the result of technical innovation to improve agricultural labour productivity, and improved access to markets. As the world reflects on the uneven and generally unsatisfactory progress towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in sub-Saharan Africa (hereinafter referred to as Africa), it is important to assess whether enough is being done to harness the potential of agriculture and rural development in fighting extreme poverty.

The most compelling evidence of agriculture-led poverty reduction comes from Asia. During the past three decades, this region experienced unprecedented economic growth and structural transformation. Poverty declined from 50 per cent in the 1970s to 18 per cent in 2004, while hunger declined from 30 to 16 per cent over the same period. These successes are attributed largely to improved agricultural productivity as a consequence of technological change and market liberalization. (3) Studies from four Asian countries over the past two decades found that households moved out of poverty through diversification of income, away from rice--Asia's dominant staple--to non-rice crops, livestock and non-farm sources. Increased income generated through increased agricultural productivity was invested in schooling and the development of non-farm rural enterprises, opening important new opportunities for employment and higher incomes in rural areas. (4)

Asia's Green Revolution began in the 1960s with the development and dissemination of fertilizer-responsive, high-yielding varieties of rice and wheat. Global average yields of these staple crops more than doubled over this period, with the greatest impact in regions with irrigation or more reliable rainfall. Improved access to fertilizer through State-supported subsidies, rural credit and improved infrastructure contributed to strong productivity growth in both crops. The Governments in Asia supported the uptake of new technology through research and extension, and intervened in the market though price support. (5,6)

In contrast to Asia, agricultural productivity growth in Africa during the past 40 years has not kept pace with population growth. Cereal yields in the region have stagnated at about 1 metric ton per hectare (MT/ha) over this period, while in East Asia cereal yields increased more than fourfold. The per capita growth rate of agricultural gross domestic product (GDP) in Africa was negative during the 1980s and 1990s, though improvements have been noted since 2000. Production growth of the major food crops (maize and root crops) was based almost entirely on extending the cultivated area...