G8's initiative will not make the desert bloom for Africa's farmers
Once again a panel of paternalistic white leftists in the Group of Eight think that by overthrowing normal market mechanisms, they can 'save' benighted Africans from hunger and misery.
The UN Millennium Project's Hunger Task Force has decided that providing quality seed and farm chemicals to small farmers at little or no cost will suddenly make the desert bloom and put a chicken in every pot. Unfortunately the cure may be worse than the disease.
Small-scale village entrepreneurs who have accumulated medium-sized blocks of land by hard work inevitably suffer when agricultural bureaucracies tinker with the free market. They must compete with subsidised small farmers receiving free inputs. Mid-sized farmers typically go on to be food processors and traders, providing useful value-adding and marketing services at the village level. If wiped out by state intervention in the market, they cannot do so.
African governments must focus on developing vital rural infrastructure to minimise post-harvest losses of food, in excess of 50 per cent. It is pointless focusing on boosting production if the product is allowed to wilt or go mouldy afterwards, or if the surplus production cannot be transported to an outside market for sale. A simple transport infrastructure is needed to move products to market promptly and the private sector induced to develop grain dryers and cold storage facilities at the village level through tax breaks. Basic irrigation infrastructure needs to be developed and paid for by small but transparent water usage charges.
This is a great deal cheaper to fund than the mansions and Bentleys that many African politicians are so fond of purchasing in Europe and likewise cheaper than the bloated payrolls of power-hungry international agencies.
Ultimately, reforming land tenure is the key for small farmers obtaining modern farm inputs. Marxist collective land ownership mechanisms leave relatively asset-rich small farmers without any effective collateral.
