The challenges faced by smallholder farmers in Africa, who produce most of the continent’s food but struggle with poor post-harvest facilities, breed poverty and hunger in the continent. This was said by a delegation of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (Agra) officials, who were on Wednesday touring Eastern Province to assess the success of farmers’ cooperatives. Addressing farmers, local leaders and stakeholders, Anne Mbaabu, director of Agra Market Access Programme, challenged agriculture partners to consider investing in post-harvest management. “We invest billions in seeds, fertilisers, research but very little or nothing in post-harvest management. It is a sad reality that post harvest management is the least invested in area. It explains why we remain with food shortage or hunger and poverty with all the produce we get,” she said. “How do you lose over 20 per cent of your produce to poor post-harvest management?” Mbaabu and her delegation that visited individual farmers’ cooperatives supported by Agra expressed satisfaction with the level of productivity on the ground. “It is amazing that farmers who used to produce 800 kilogrammes have moved to 4.5 metric tonnes per hectare of climbing beans. This is the highest potential you can achieve,” she said. Mbaabu, however, said the farmers were affected by lack of storage facilities for their produce. “Farmers are storing producers like beans on the floor, but what if it rains? We must think forward to the next level, we need to invest in technologies for storage,” she said. The officials said Agra was in discussion with other partners to come on board to support the farmers, adding that Rockefeller Foundation was one of those expected to invest in post-harvest management. “If you want to be successful, you have to bring the private sector into the equation. Farming has to make a business sense. Farmers need total support not just one piece of support.” John Bideri, the coordinator of Rwanda Rural Rehabilitation Initiative (RWARRI), commended Agra for its direct support to farmers. He said having invested in the farmers, it was imperative that Agra officials get firsthand experience of what cooperatives were doing. “Farmers now can produce enough and save some money as they testified. Banks like KCB have been supportive in the whole value chain. Warehouses for storage remain an issue as you saw,” he said. Agra has invested at least $1 million to support over 80,000 smallholder farmers in the country. editorial@newtimes.co.rw
