Tanzania’s Ambassador to China, H.E. Mbelwa Brighton Kairuki in challenging Africa to increase its agricultural productivity has also urged the continent to position itself and determine the price of its products and not the other way round.
In most cases, intermediaries of agricultural products make more profit on the sale of these products than the farmers and this leads to most accepting the prices these intermediaries offer. This keeps farmers, especially small scale ones living in poverty and makes the profession unattractive to the youth in Africa.
Illustrating the African scenario, in a zoom conference with the Happy 98.9 FM’s Samuel Eshun on the Happy Morning Show dubbed, “‘Agriculture: Africa’s post Covid-19 recovery catalyst?”, the diplomat said, “All the cocoa in Africa is sold through intermediaries and that is not fair. Other people are determining the price because we are not selling to the largest consumers. We have become price takers and not givers.”
The diplomat noted that Africa needs to find a seat at the table to determine the pricing of our agricultural products without the use of intermediaries. He believes that can be done through African nations uniting.
“Our strength is our unity and if we don’t unite and overcome the divide and rule system being used on us, we will still be under the table. We’re even stronger when united as one. We’re made to believe we are weak but that is not true.”
“The prices of cocoa beans keep fluctuating but we have never seen a drop in prices of chocolate. If we all come together, we can get the prices of cocoa to go up,” he stated.
Sharing how Tanzania was able to increase its cashew price by 10% in a year, he mentioned, “The Tanzanian government decided to sell its cashew on behalf of their people rather than these farmers selling their produce individually. That year, the price went up by 10% because of the united front and we can do same for cocoa.”
H.E. Mbelwa Brighton Kairuki on how to ensure Africa’s seat at the global pricing seat noted that it can only be possible if certain conditions like supply and policy revisions are done.
Africa already has vast arable land but its problem has primarily being the cultivation of these lands for large scale supply to the ready market locally and abroad. A year ago, the 58 countries on the continent were able to contribute only 50 tones out of the 88 tons of farm produce China imported.
The ambassador surmised that for Africa to be price givers, “We need to produce more and supply more. If we produce lower volumes we cannot compete with the other markets like Asia and South America.”
He further indicated that the export laws in Africa also hindered the growth and strength of the agricultural sector on the continent. “We need to relook at our export laws and policies. I know countries with as high as 85% tax on exports and if we reduce it, it can lead to our prices being competitive.”
He suggested, “We need to have a seat at the table either by buying shares or coming together and renegotiating pricing and make sure our farmers get more at the value chain. Now, we’re eating crumbs when the others at the table are eating the better part,” he indicated.
Two out of every three Africans depend on agriculture for survival. This provides the continent with food whilst serving as the leading foreign exchange earner and source of raw materials. But farmers on the continent live in poverty.
By: Joel Sanco