Many African countries have not invested in understanding the skill-base comprising traits, talents and passion that drive food systems. Unless existing skills and knowledge are mapped, it will be difficult for value chain actors to match changes in demand and consumption patterns or unlock the full value from abundant natural resources. Such mapping can start by finding out who is doing what in the food systems and what missing knowledge is preventing the food system from growing or creating new opportunities?
Invest in information and knowledge first
A large portion of African economies has remained underground because there have not been efforts to generate a deep understanding of socio-economic, environmental and political drivers of this economy. Absence of information and knowledge about informal skills has remained a barrier to linking formal education system with the fast growing informal economy. While there is useful content in curricula and graduates, there are no systems to direct graduates where they can apply their knowledge acquired from formal education systems into diverse food systems paths.
Matching natural resources with knowledge and skills
Some of the most fundamental skills, information and knowledge are within farmers and traders. But these have remained undocumented ecosystems. Natural resources like land, water and a favourable climate should be matched with existing human knowledge and skills if African countries are to build strong agriculture-driven economies that competes aggressively on the international market. To what extent do African countries have the right skills, knowledge and information to increase the quality of their agricultural commodities toward matching demand requirements and niche markets in terms of tastes and preferences of different consumer classes? Mass markets provide a platform for answering this question through a value chain approach:
Demand side – what are the human skills, knowledge and information requirements demanded by the consumption side (formal markets, informal markets, processors, food chain stores, hotels and various consumer classes for horticulture commodities? The demand side has different expected standards and specifications to be satisfied by the supply side.
Supply side – From the selected value chains, what is the status quo in relation to skills, knowledge and information revealed through standards and specification? Are there gaps and mismatches? What challenges hinder the adoption of diverse skills, knowledge and information in relation to other factors like production facilities, resources and others? What is required to use existing skills and knowledge optimally? Are the actors over-skilled for the public or private sector?
Health and nutrition – To what extent are farmers, traders and others conscious of nutrition issues and consider these to be a key part of Unique Selling Proposition (USPs) for their commodities? If farmers have to choose between ten to 15 varieties, what are the benefits of each variety from the farmer’s perspective not from the seed seller’s view point? For maize, major USPs are drought tolerance and productivity (yield per hectare). What about nutrition merits? Absence of such knowledge represents a gap in human skills. The new paradigm is promoting quality and nutrition as major benefits with price and volume no longer big considerations. With food becoming medicine, consistency in supply is also becoming an important factor as some consumers no longer want to miss particular foods.
Starting with low-hanging fruits
Human skills and knowledge are more to do with internal factors and any weaknesses can be easily controlled. A decision can be taken by government to invest in improving skills and knowledge or re-allocate to severely depleted areas. This is a low hanging fruit – starting with addressing weaknesses rather than confronting threats like natural disasters such as drought, floods and climate change which can be dealt with through dear mitigation measures. Additional questions can include what skills do you need to get the best ROI in potato or tomato production in a changing climate? What skills do extension officers need to extend knowledge to farmers and value chain actors in dry regions? What skills do value chain actors need in order to consistently meet market expectations?
A capacity building programme can then be developed for meeting demand expectations. These can be building blocks for meeting regional and international markets. It is possible that more than 75% of a commodity’s quality lies within a farmer or trader’s exposure to human skills, knowledge and information. Likewise, the competitiveness of commodities in the market could be determined by human skills, knowledge and information not land, water or climatic conditions. Consumer tastes and preferences at local, regional and global levels are changing faster than the speed at which human production skills, knowledge and information are changing in agriculture-based economies. A generic syllabus in Farming as a Business is no longer keeping pace with market trends.
Case for dismantling knowledge silos
As part of informing the supply side from the market, an ideal information and knowledge inquiry can embrace production calendars; market-based budgeting; market-driven production; demand requirements in terms of volumes; location; use of ICTs; markets development and market linkages. At the moment, most value chain actors are working in silos. Farmers are doing their own thing based on the knowledge and skills they have while the market continues to set its own expectations as shown by three to six grades for commodities like potatoes. The more the grades are narrowed, the higher the grade and quality. Why should there be five grades for the same commodity and same unit of measurement? Maize has two or three grades, small grains probably one grade while horticulture has several grades. There is probably need for totally different skills beyond generic advice from conventional extension agents.
There is need for a sustainable pathway for developing human skills, knowledge and information in the agriculture sector. Government might think skills are still available in horticulture and the entire agriculture sector when they have been drastically depleted over years. A focus on human skills, knowledge and information within communities, commodities and along value chains is critical. Agriculture could probably be anchored on farmers who have gone through farming as a business but such knowledge may have been overtaken by events. The knowledge in institutions like the Ministry of Agriculture and Ministry of Industry and Commerce remains trapped at head office when it should be decentralized to the grassroots. For instance, agricultural economists are found at head office and not available at provincial, district or ward levels. A leaf can be borrowed from the Ministry of Health that has decentralized doctors and other health personnel to district levels after realizing that skills, knowledge and information makes more difference at local level.
Charles@knowledgetransafrica.com / charles@emkambo.co.zw /
Website: www.emkambo.co.zw / www.knowledgetransafrica.com
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