How Horn of Africa can end perennial food crisis

World Bank President Jim Yong Kim (L) addresses a joint press conference with Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta following a meeting in Nairobi on October 29, 2014. UN chief Ban Ki-moon warned Wednesday that Somalia risks returning to famine without urgent aid, as he visited the war-torn country three years since more than 250,000 people died of hunger. UN chief Ban also toured Kenya as part of efforts to boost development in the Horn of Africa region, meeting with Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta and World Bank President Jim Yong Kim at the State House. AFP PHOTO / TONY KARUMBA

Nairobi; Kenya: World leaders deserve congratulations for pledging to spend more than Sh712 billion in financial support for countries in the Horn of Africa which have been battling cycles of drought, food insecurity and civil wars.

To their credit, these countries, which include Kenya, Uganda, South Sudan, Sudan, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia and Somalia, have been making unheralded progress in economic growth and political stability.

In the words of Jim Yong Kim, the World Bank Group President, one of the leaders who visited Kenya earlier this week, “the new financing represents a major opportunity for the people of the Horn of Africa to make sure they get access to clean water, nutritious food, health care, education and jobs.”

Kenyans can draw comfort from the realisation that they are ahead of their peers in finding solutions for many of these problems. For example, last year’s discovery of large reservoirs of water in Turkana means that many of the problems facing people living in Northern Kenya can be solved with greater ease.

But despite the obvious benefits the new funding brings, fresh thinking is needed if the Horn of Africa countries are to tackle their myriad challenges. The widespread unemployment among the increasing number of young people—some of whom have gone through universities and institutions of higher learning—is a ticking time bomb that calls for the crafting and implementation of local solutions. The good news is that the pledged funds will give the Jubilee government more resources to deal with the issues that make Kenya such an unequal society that it shares billings with Brazil and other countries that have gone through years of despotic governments in and outside Africa.

The Africa Development Bank is; for example, right to warn against the pursuit of economic policies that make a few people richer while the greater majority struggle to survive. This, the bank warns, risks sinking the country into a fragile state that is susceptible to both internal and external shocks.

Salutary lesson

The obvious inequality is evidenced by persistent high levels of poverty and regional disparities, limited access to basic services and unemployment which lays an intolerable burden on women and the youth.

This lack of inclusive economic growth is attributable to skewed distribution of income and property. The hope is that the government would use part of the new funding to redress the antiquated land tenure systems that deny the most vulnerable groups—women and youth—access to land. Individual land tenure systems might be a good beginning.

Kenya’s attempt to deal with the problem of the growing poverty among women and the youth by coming up with credit schemes is commendable but it does not go far enough. This is evident from the huge amounts of money that are lying idle in these schemes’ accounts. Perhaps, time has come for a fresh re-think not only about these schemes but also the fund that targets the elderly.

The re-think should be based on the recognition that whereas giving loans to finance imports of low cost goods from China, and elsewhere, might create employment and income for the beneficiaries; it is neither sustainable nor desirable because it often undermines local industries. This leads to a situation where the country is creating jobs for importers and distributors but jeopardizing employment in the manufacturing sector. The recent closure of Eveready manufacturing plant in Nakuru and the near- death experiences of the textile industry should serve as a salutary lesson.

The solution would be to come up with income-generating schemes that benefit women and youth while also growing the national economy. In agriculture, the first step should be identifying the imported food items that find their way to Kenyans’ tables.

An obvious culprit is the oil seeds which, a few years ago, were estimated to consume a whooping Sh50 billion in scarce foreign exchange. Surely, it would not take rocket science to get women and youth groups to grow these seed crops locally. Of course, it would require policy makers to reach out to edible oils manufacturers whom they would link up with interested farmers. In addition, it would require the stepping up of training and subsequent employment of agricultural extension officers who would be tasked with the training of farmers.

Turning a blind eye

Additionally, the agencies dealing with imports should be woken up to the dangers of turning a blind eye on the importation of untaxed and uncertified cooking oils. The extension officers would be particularly needed if the government were to take up the challenge of doubling the country’s horticultural exports to the European Union.

That would add an extra Sh100 billion into the national economy every year. The knock-on effect of just these two initiatives would be extraordinary. In the event that the national government is too busy, the county governments in areas that have adequate water for irrigation should take up the challenge. While many county governments have expressed interest in leading their people in growing horticultural crops, they need to take a fresh breath and consider the merits of coming together to chart a common way forward. The current situation where the counties are acting as though they are islands is a recipe with the potential to disappoint farmers when they grow crops only to discover they do not have access to either internal or external markets.

The country’s Jua Kali sector is also crying out for a shot in the arm. Access to affordable credit and a ban on the importation of goods—such as furniture and kitchenware—that are made locally would do wonders for the sector which has continued to thrive despite lack of government support.

The building of all-weather sheds and sales outlets in areas frequented by a majority of local residents would go a long way in breathing new life into a sector that continues to employ more people than the formal one. In short, the infusion of new money should also be accompanied by fresh thinking on how it will be used. Old ways of doing things will not do.