Production issues affecting food security- EAC chief

By Patrick Jaramogi

The problem farmers in East Africa face is not lack of access to market, but challenges of production, the East African Secretary General Dr. Richard Sezibera has disclosed.

“We have at the moment 130 million people in East Africa and the number is shooting up to 150 million, so you can’t say that we don’t have market. The challenge we have is that of production,” he said in an interview.

Sezibera said the five East African states - Uganda, Kenya, Burundi, Rwanda, Kenya and Tanzania have come up with the East African food security production strategy to address the above challenges.

He made the remarks at the sidelines of the Africa Green Revolution Forum at the Ngurdoto Mountain lodge in Arusha. The three day forum whose theme is scaling investment and innovation, sustainable agricultural growth and food security seeks to boost food security and empower small holder farmers in Africa

Sezibera pointed out that East Africa was doing “badly’ regarding aspects of food security. To put it boldly he said the percentage stood at less than 10 percent.

“In other sectors we are doing well. The other challenge we have is the government policies that are not harmonized,” he said. He reiterated the need for East African states to work towards harmonizing the polices that seek to promote food security in the region.

He said there are 130 million hens, 41 million cows, 33 million goats, 14 sheep and over 20 million pigs that can’t even be sufficient for the current market.

“We need a commodity exchange of works across the board among all partners’ states. The market is there, all we need is boosting of production,” he said.

During the opening ceremony Tanzania President Jakaya Kikwete pointed out that agricultural transformation would be a reality if East African governments commit themselves to the Maputo declaration that emphasizes the need to increase agricultural budget funding to at least 10 percent.

“Agriculture in Africa is still characterized by very low levels of technology such as use of hand hoes coupled with low and reliable rainfall. If governments don’t scale up irrigation, the green revolution will remain a fallacy,” said Kikwete. Several African heads of state and government attended including former UN secretary General Kofi Annan and Melinda Gates from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Uganda was represented by the Agriculture Minister Trace Buchanayandi