MEDIUM SMALLHOLDER FARMERS DRIVING AFRICA'S AGRICULTURAL REVOLUTION

There is an ongoing agricultural revolution in Africa, and medium - smallholder farmers are the Vanguards!

- VALENTINE ELETA*

The last few years have seen a welcome paradigm shift in African agricultural systems and outlook, after the lethargy of the previous decades. Rapid population growth, urbanization and rising incomes have contributed to massive growth in demand for food in Africa. Individuals, governments and non-governmental organizations are beginning to really see the agriculture industry, as a viable, sustainable line of business, with potential for serious profits. This, coupled with an increasing awareness of the need to overcome the continent’s overdependence on extraction and export of mineral resources as primary sources of revenue, has resulted in a renewed interest in agriculture and agribusiness. There have been calls from various governments, for citizens to take up farming, to ensure food sufficiency. Programmes aimed at increasing agricultural capacity and enticing young people back to the farm are being rolled out across the continent. Most of the investments are directed towards medium – smallholder farms, and other parts of the agriculture value chain.

For the purpose of this article, ‘Smallholder Farms’ are loosely defined as farms with a total landholding of less than 5 hectares (ha). They are mostly driven by human labour, with low external inputs (machinery, irrigation, inorganic fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, etc.) and consequently low productivity. Medium farms are those with landholdings from 5 to 50 ha. These medium-scale farms are in-between small-scale, semi-subsistence production and larger-scale, more commercial farms, making use of agricultural machinery, from power tools to tractors and other external inputs. Large-scale farms are thus, those with more than 50 ha landholdings.