Agriculture under threat in Africa-Oxfam document

Agricultural investment has not delivered what small holders in Africa and in particular, women producers’ need, an Oxfam report seen by Daily Trust has shown.  The investments through both quantity and quality need lessons from the under investment in the agricultural sector and put the focus back onto the majority of food producers. The report […]

Agricultural investment has not delivered what small holders in Africa and in particular, women producers’ need, an Oxfam report seen by Daily Trust has shown. 
The investments through both quantity and quality need lessons from the under investment in the agricultural sector and put the focus back onto the majority of food producers.
The report also said government total budgetary allocation to agricultural sector is dissimilar to the agreed 10 per cent at the African Union (AU) Head of State Summit in Maputo, 2013. 
The document showed that only nine of the 54 AU members states, met the Maputo Declaration target in 2013 and only seven have regularly met the yearly target afterwards. 
Also the limited investment made in the sector are often focused on major commodity crops like maize and sugar whereas women more commonly produce the food that is grown for consumption and tree-based commodities that do not rely on land ownership. 
This approach has affected women adversely as they are often involved in local markets while government and large private sector investments prioritise regional and global markets. 
Another concern is climate change with the agricultural sector described as most vulnerable. In Sub-Saharan Africa, 70 percent of food is produced from subsistence agriculture and therefore smallholder producers need to play a central role in decision making around agricultural investment and adaptation planning. 
Despite the high numbers of women smallholder producers across Africa and their significant contributions to food production, policies and processes that invest in agriculture frequently overlook them. 
This is for a variety of reasons, from lack of basic rights over the land they work, to receiving little support from agricultural services – only 5 per cent of all extension resources globally are directed towards women. 
Women’s contribution to food production is therefore largely unsupported.