African governments and farmers have been urged to look at agriculture as a business rather than a means to tackle poverty.

The call came from experts at the ongoing African Development Bank (AfDB) Annual Meetings during an interactive session dubbed "From Farm to Market” yesterday.

Experts urged mindset change if Africa is to tackle the persistent challenges in the agriculture sector like low production, limited exportation of agricultural produces and inter-trade.

"About 75 per cent of our people live in rural areas, so the continent’s future lies in agriculture. Africa has tremendous potential in agriculture, with 65 per cent of the world’s arable land found on the continent,” Nigeria’s Minister for Agriculture, Akinwunmi Adesina, said.

He added: "If we unlock agriculture potential, the continent can satisfy itself and feed the world’s surging population.”

Adesina noted that despite the fact that Africa has a rich biodiversity and most of the people are engaged with farming activities, production is still wanting.

Africa imports $25 billion worth of food annually, with only $1 billion exported from the continent.

He said huge volumes of agricultural exports to Africa continue to undermine the continent’s growth ambitions.

"We should stop looking at agriculture as a development programme. Agriculture is not a social sector, it is a business,” Adesina said.

We should not use agriculture as a way of managing poverty, we must use agriculture as a way of unlocking wealth,” he added.

He said mechanisation and irrigation programmes must be emphasised throughout the continent, while governments must concentrate on giving more incentives to farmers.

"We must think of modernising agriculture to avoid reliance on rudimentary tools like hoes and pangas. We also need to improve irrigation which is as low as  3 per cent. We should use  production methods that are adequate, and add value and volume to the produce coming from farms,” he said.

"Governments should ensure that farmers’ products have ready markets. They should also register all biometrics about the farmers in their countries, so that they follow them up and know all their challenges,” he added.

The President of Eastern Africa Farmers Federation (EAFF), Philip Kiriro, said Africans should learn to develop agri-business models that not only create jobs but also contribute significantly to the continent’s food basket.

"Only 2 per cent of Africa’s graduates are employed in the agriculture sector. We must attract more of them into the sector, and provide them with incentives, training and mentorship services that enable them to develop agri-business models,” Kiriro said.

"We should focus on organising farmers into cooperatives, developing village markets, as well as setting up processing plants and storage facilities to improve the value chain,” Kiriro added.

Africa’s agriculture sector accounts for 15 per cent of GDP and is the main source of income for over 90 per cent of the rural population.

Uganda’s Minister of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries, Tress Bucyanayandi, said the only way for Africa’s agriculture transformation is to maximise its natural resources.

"Most African farmers import fertilisers from western manufacturers yet we have our sources in Africa. In my view we should be able to exploit local sources,” Bucyanayandi said.

She added that most African countries are endowed with resources like fossil deposits, carbonates, oil "and in this way they can manufacture urea and have fertiliser available in our own countries.”