Farouk Gumel - Africa’s Agriculture exports and the need for more processing locally

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Farouk Gumel - Despite long standing recognition
of the benefits of trade and the importance of
improving competitiveness, Africa is performing
beneath its potential in global and regional
agricultural markets. Recent export growth has
been offset by even larger growth in imports,
caused by a booming population. More than 60
percent of the population of sub-Saharan Africa
are smallholder farmers, and about 23 percent of
sub-Saharan Africas GDP comes from agriculture.
Yet, Africas full agricultural potential remains
untapped. This has led to a deterioration of
Africas trade balance. Intraregional trade, on
the other hand, is growing, but remains
significantly below the levels seen in other
parts of the world.
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Africa still has strong comparative advantages in
many products which include traditional cash
crops like coffee, cocoa and tea, as well as new
products like legumes, pulses and sesame seeds.
Some of these products are becoming the main
staples of many African countries, including
those classified as least developed countries
(LDC). Many nations have started positioning
themselves as specialist/centers of excellence in
the production of exportable commodities. For
example, Ghana and Ivory Coast are focusing on
Cocoa, Comoros is focusing on spices and
essential oils Burundi and Rwanda on coffee and
tea and many more.
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Cocoa - Some 70 percent of the world's cocoa
beans comes from four West African countries
Ivory Coast, Ghana, Nigeria and Cameroon. The
Ivory Coast and Ghana are by far the two largest
producers of cocoa, accounting for more than 50
percent of the worlds cocoa production. Cashew
- African farmers currently grow 48 of the
worlds cashews annually. Ivory Coast, Tanzania,
Guinea Bissau and Nigeria contribute much to it.
Africa is now the largest producer of raw nuts
with more than one million tons production.
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Sesame - 59.4 of the worlds sesame is produced
in Africa. As a region, Africa has quickly risen
as the top producer and exporter passing India.
Growth in production is mainly from Tanzania and
Ethiopia.
One thing that is common amongst the 4
commodities above is most of the exports are in
raw form. Little or no processing happens within
Africa. This means as Africa exports the raw
materials, the continent is also exporting all
the jobs associated with processing,
manufacturing, and packaging.
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Raw cashew nuts for example are sold to Asian
countries where significant value addition takes
place before exporting the premium product to US
and European market at higher rates. Of course,
Asian nations also want to create jobs. But there
is a need for a balance. Africas population rate
is growing at a faster rate than the jobs we are
creating. Unless a proper balance is struck, we
will end up in a vicious circle of insecurity,
hopelessness, and poverty.
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Farouk Gumel said TGIs projects try to strike
this balance where we aim to create jobs in both
the producer and consumer nations. Farouk Gumel
adds that as our business operations are located
in both Asia and Africa, we are able to maintain
an equilibrium that creates a win-win. TGIs
investments focus on driving inclusivity and
value addition using locally sourced raw
materials, state-of-the-art manufacturing
facilities and a highly skilled workforce to
produce world class products. Farouk Gumel added,
TGI for example splits its cashew operations
between Benin Republic, Nigeria and India. We
have identified ways of meeting consumer needs
while maximizing our impact within the producer
nations. The key now is for the political leaders
to also find ways of enhancing collaboration to
ensure this win-win is sustained.
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