African Agriculture. The Africa of my dreams. The "African Jedi" and the "54th coalition"

THEME: THE AFRICA OF MY DREAMS

SUB THEME: AGRICULTURE AS A BUSINESS

TITLE: The "African Jedi" and the "54th coalition"

WRITTEN BY: OSHEVIRE ORODE ONOFE

The "54th coalition" as it’s called by Africa's vast army of smallholder business farmers and agribusiness warlords. The Africa of 1884 has dissipated into the shadows and fables of time immemorial. It is the advent of the new gods; the herculean generation of African descent whose aggregate macroeconomic strata heralded the "54th coalition". The World Bank called them "African Jedi", the African development bank called them "New generation Mansa Musa" and international research institutions called them "The prophetic generation of agribusiness warlords”, but sceptics initially labelled them as misguided food processors. What really happened? Was it just a regional rancour or academic debate? Who are these "African Jedi"? How did the African food market cross the US$10 trillion mark?

Going by the tales of men renowned, who witnessed the reign of green revolutions (1980's and 1990's), structural adjustment programmes (1990's and early 2000's) and the so called "Season of great agricultural growth(2000 - 2014)". We later discovered increased cropped area and commodity price boom were key drivers of the agricultural growth just into the first decade of the new millennia. The underlying fundamentals still remained in status quo; the land labour productivity ratio remained abysmal in comparison to our Asian counterparts. Africa's 51 million farmers bearing the brunt of their Governments agricultural investment rarely exceeding 5% on the average despite the Maputo signatory to the Comprehensive Africa Agricultural Development Programme (CAADP). Glittering like gold, the evidence of how Asian governments revamped their agriculture shows that in the 1970's and 1980's on the average 15% of their total budgets went into Agriculture. It is now glaring, how desperate wishes under the myrtle toe will not transform the African Agriculture. Our last hope and response all lie in the New generation Mansa Musa and the "54th coalition", which as at 2018 was still a mere mirage and a dream.

Agriculture is a business and not just a development activity, We are path of the private sector not peasants, we are the revolution, we are the transformation, chanted, Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina at the 53rd Annual general meeting of the African Development Bank (AFDB) as he addressed top influencers and stakeholders in African agricultural sector. We are the hope for global food security and a sustainable future. Send this message down to every smallholder business farmer, every stakeholder in the sector and every one engaged along the value chain. Let us call for a food system value chain referendum, leaving our governments with no choice but to come to the negotiation table. This was the beginning of a sequence of events that lead to the wide spread continental awakening and relook into the power of African Jedi's (Small holder business farmers) to cause her government to give agriculture is right position and funding.

At the peak of the pressure locally and internationally, The 54 heads of States and Governments in the African Union summit of July, 2018, unanimously committed to 25% of their total budget into agriculture, its value chains and the institutional frameworks that support the sector. It was now time for the business of agriculture. It took the world by surprise, when within 6 months 24 countries had passed their budgets with between 25% - 45% of total budget invested into agriculture. Now, the media called it the "54th coalition", soon after several legislative debates and hurdles, the 30 other countries joined in with varying percentages averaging more than 25%. In two (2) years the results began to trickle in, African smallholder business farmers alone had grown in number to 110 million and the value chain had created an estimated 200 million new jobs. In five (5) years over 200 million Africans had cross over the poverty line and agricultural exports had crossed over 100billion dollars due to value addition. The "Apple Company" of Africa was now, the conglomerate of smallholder business farmers and their value chain business warlords. Unemployment rate across Sub-Saharan Africa had dropped to below 5% on the average. The "54th coalition" had changed the African landscape and given it a new unbelievable yet inspirational story.

In today's (2050) world, Africa's agribusiness value chain is now the most valuable value chain on earth and smallholder business farmers have been nicknamed "African Jedi". It’s now a joy in both business havens (formerly called rural communities) and urban metropolis for parents to give their daughters to Jedi's (Smallholder business farmers) for wives. With your permit number and Identity card as a smallholder business farmer you get special privileges at the airport to medical insurance for your family. "African Jedi's" are viewed as international civil servants at par with high ranking UN officials; they are the new idols of youths across the world.

Kenyan horticulturist gets special holidays to Paris annually due to the French agreement. Senegalese millets meal is now a UNICEF recommended meal for children worldwide. Ethiopia and Israeli partnership has shifted the borders of agricultural extension, technology and research to mind blowing proportions. Ghanaian, Ivorian and Nigeria chocolates have long over taken Swiss and Belgium chocolate as the global number one consumer’s choice. Southern Africa's land productivity ratio is nearly immortal. The ripple effect across Africa today is nearly unbelievable. The Guinea Savannah zone in sub-Saharan Africa is now the world's agribusiness capital and the most valuable landed area on earth. All thanks to the "African Jedi" and the "54th coalition", this truly is the Africa of my dreams where agriculture is a business.