Economic development projects will create opportunities for agriculture entrepreneurs to deploy employment strategies for a vast portion of the African population. We will assist with the organization of entrepreneur empowerment workshops and participate in the development of micro finance projects. This new African Agriculture Green Revolution Union will allow for important trade relationships with the European, Asian, and western world. For local communities, agriculture projects will help to set up micro-landing programs, and develop agriculture export strategies for African Agriculture entrepreneurs.
American agronomist Dr. Norman Borlaug’s Green Revolution agricultural initiatives benefited most regions of the world, particularly Asia, Europe, and the western world, where agricultural food quadrupled between 1960-2017. But Africa missed out on this boom in agricultural productivity, which has helped to stifle the region’s overall economic growth. The goal of our union is to lift underdeveloped portions of the African economy to the levels comparable to other developed parts of the world.
Africa has the highest area of arable uncultivated land in the world. This union will cultivate all those hactares of land and work to improve the African economy. The question of “why agriculture is doing so well in Asia, Western, and European nation farms?” Dates back to 1930, when the most productive farms planted an average of five thousand seeds per acre. Today, thanks to science its closer to eighty thousand per acre. Due to investments in agricultural infrastructure, supply chains including storage, transport, and manufacturing equipment with sophisticated GPS systems, opportunities exist for farmers to capitalize on innovation to increase productivity.
The current state of Africa is one that I, Bishop Joseph Wulu Doe, knows very well. I grew out of rural poverty myself, and went to rural school in Ziah Town, Konobo District #2 Grand Gedeh County Republic of Liberia, West Africa. There, we had no electricity and lived in a village where we had to walk kilometers to find water. We had to study after dark with candles or kerosene lanterns. By the grace of God, I made it out of poverty to where I am today; but for one billion of those in similar situations, especially in rural Africa, the outcomes are not like mine. For most, the potential has simply been wasted.
90% of African life in rural areas are very dependent overwhelmingly on agriculture for its livelihood. The key to improving the quality of life in rural areas is to transform agriculture, but the low productivity of farming, the poor state of rural infrastructure, digital exclusion and poor access to modern tools and agronomic information has made the quality of life very low in these areas. Unfortunately not much as has changed since I was at my rural school. As a result, rural youth are discouraged, dis-empowered, and vulnerable to recruitment by rebel leaders who find decimated rural areas ideal to their activities.
We strive to devote our attention to three factors: Extreme rural poverty, high rate of unemployment among the youth, and environmental degradation. These are what I hold as the triangle of disaster. Wherever these three factors are found, civil conflict and rebels take root, destroying the people’s ability to work on farms and access food markets. This new union will invest heavily in Africa’s rural areas and turn them from zones of economic misery, to zones of economic prosperity. We seek create millions of jobs and stabilize societies in order to disrupt rebel recruitment. Relying on the economics of food production allows for a real chance at economic prosperity.
Africa imports $150 billion of food net annually, and this number is expected to rise to U.S $300 billion by 2035 if current trends continue. We are growing coffee and cocoa we do not consume and consuming rice we do not grow. Africa is decimating its rural areas by exporting its jobs, which gradually pull away income of its farmers and lose its youth through voluntary migration to the western world.
According to the World Bank, Africa’s farmers and agribusinesses could create a trillion-dollar food market by 2030 if they can expand their access to more capital, electricity and better technology. Imagine the overall impact that could have on the people of Africa. So we must think differently. Africa produces 95% of cocoa but receives only 2% of the US’ $800 Million yearly expenditures. In the chocolate markets, the price of the cocoa may decline, but never the price of the chocolate. The price of cotton may fall, but never the price of garments. In 2017, Africa earned just US $1 Billion from export of coffee. Yet Germany, the leading processor, earned $2.5 trillion from re-exports; this is because the European Union imposes a 7.5% tariff charge on roasted coffee products, but exempts non decaffeinated green coffee. As a result, most of Africa’s coffee exports to the EU are non-roasted green coffee which is sold cheap as an unimproved commodity.
This union will also enable youth program to develop a new generation of young commercial farmers and agricultural entrepreneurs. The union’s goal is to develop millions of young agricultural entrepreneurs in various nations within the next 15 years. We will invest in skill development in computer science, engineering, and mathematics to prepare the youth for the future.
We know the technologies exist to transform Africa’s agriculture. The food and agribusiness sectors of Asian and western nations will grow to $800 trillion by 2050, and there will also be billions of people looking for food and clothing. African enterprises and investors can capitalize on this opportunity and unlock Africa’s potential. Agriculture allied with industry, manufacturing, and food processing capabilities equals strong and sustainable economic development. Africa will feed itself and when it does, it will be able to feed the world.
Our union will seek to fill gaps in agricultural production on the continent and create sustainable jobs for its population. This will contribute to improving the continent’s overall infrastructure (road development, sewer systems, drinking water, electric grids, schools, etc.), which will ultimately lift Africa and its nations to new heights.