Ineffective farming techniques and wasteful post-harvest practices have left sub-Saharan Africa as the region most likely to miss the fi rst Millennium Development Goal: eradicating extreme hunger and poverty by 2015, warns the 2010 UNCTAD (United Nations Conference on Trade and Development) Technology and Innovation Report (TIR), published in May 2010.

The report calls for a “green revolution” for Africa that cannot be based on well-publicised farming advances in Asia and Latin America, but built instead on technology and innovation aimed at the needs and capabilities of Africa’s millions of smallholder farmers and at coping with the continent’s varying climate conditions. For example, while modern irrigation techniques can increase crop yields dramatically, most of them have been designed for relatively large and fairly sophisticated systems. Now, thanks to alternative new technologies such as low-cost drip irrigation, improved treadle pumps and low-cost plastic water tanks to store runoff, smallholders can benefi t from modern irrigation  techniques that would otherwise be unaffordable, given the small size of their farms and the limited capital available to them.

The report includes similar examples in such areas as biotechnology, fertilisers, pesticides, tilling, and post-harvest technologies. Innovative policies to improve the access of farmers to appropriate technologies are also covered. For example, a policy of “smart subsidies” to ease access to fertilisers has resulted in staggering increases in maize production in Malawi, demonstrating the key role credit and other instruments can play in enabling farmers to adopt effective existing technologies.

In the medium and long term, making innovation systems more coherent, targeting external support more effectively, and increasing investment in agricultural research and development offer the greatest potential for improving food security in Africa, the report says. With the appropriate international support and the necessary political will, African agriculture can be transformed through science, technology, and innovation and contribute to broader economic growth and development on the continent, the TIR contends. (UNCTAD/ib)

More information: www.unctad.org