The Sasakawa Association will work with the Japan International Corporation Agency (JICA), to help double rice production to 50 million tonnes by 2030. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe made the announcement at the Sasakawa Africa Association (SAA) symposium held on Wednesday during TICAD7.
“Japanese technology can play a key role in innovation which is key to agriculture,” Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told delegates.
Discussions at the Symposium focused on Africa’s youth bulge, unemployment rates, agricultural innovations and technologies, solutions and job creation opportunities in the agricultural sector.
“We’ve always believed in the agriculture potential of Africa,” said Yohei Sasakawa, Chairman of the Nippon foundation. “We are paying more attention to income-generating activities. We want to help shift the mindset of small-holder farmers from producing-to-eat to producing-to-sell. We are hopeful that Africa’s youth can take agriculture to a new era, and that they can see a career path in agriculture,” he added.
In a keynote address, African Development Bank Group President, Akinwumi Adesina, called for urgent and concerted efforts to “end hunger”.
“In spite of all the gains made in agriculture. We are not winning the global war against hunger. We must all arise collectively and end global hunger. To do that, we must end hunger in Africa. Hunger diminishes our humanity,” Adesina urged.
According to the FAO’s 2019 State of Food and Security, the number of hungry people globally stands at a disconcerting 821 million. Africa alone accounts for 31% of the global number of hungry people – 251 million people.
Commending the Sasakawa Association’s late founder, Ryochi Sasakawa, for his tireless efforts in tackling hunger, Adesina said: “Passion, dedication and commitment to the development of agriculture and the pursuit of food security in our world has been the hallmark of your work.”
Between 1986 and 2003, Sasakawa Association in Africa, operated in a total of 15 countries including – Ghana, Sudan, Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Benin, Togo, Mali, Guinea, Zambia, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Tanzania, Uganda, Malawi and Mozambique.
Harnessing the potential of new technologies
Adesina expressed confidence in the ability of technology to deliver substantial benefits in agriculture. To accelerate Africa’s agricultural growth, the African Development Bank has launched the Technologies for African Agricultural Transformation (TAAT) to deliver new technologies to millions of farmers. ‘TAAT has become a game changer, and is already delivering impressive results, Adesina said.
Working with 30 private seed companies, the TAAT maize compact produced over 27,000 tons of seeds of water efficient maize that was planted by 1.6 million farmers.
Tackling climate change: a top priority
Hiroyuki Takahashi, founder of Pocket Marche, a platform that connects Japanese farmers and producers with consumers, shared insights and lessons learnt from Japan’s experiences, historic cycles of climate disasters and the country’s rebound.
“The power to choose what we eat is the power to stop the climate crisis and bring sustainable happiness to a world with limited resources,” Takahashi said.
It is estimated that Africa will heat up 1.5 times faster than the global average and require $7-15 billion a year for adaptation alone. Limiting the impacts of climate change is expected to become a top priority for Africa.
“Africa has been short changed by climate change. But, it should not be short changed by climate finance,” Adesina said in his concluding remarks.
“Let’s be better asset managers for nature. For while we must eat today, so must future generations coming after us. It is our collective responsibility to ensure that we do not leave empty plates on the table for generations to come,” Adesina concluded.
Isn’t it a shame for the country’s present political stakeholders still having to see Gambian women with such terrible farming implements, while they engage themselves in what I would call “Romeo and Juliet party politicking”: falling deeply in love with a political parties or party leaders, instead of the required honesty expected of our politicians and their intelligible development agendas. One would have thought; oh they would be in the NA seeking for the funding or support of national development projects deemed priorities in the development agendas. No sitting president would be that ever rude saying; I did this and all that in the Gambia. In an enlightened political process, even the minority parties in the NA should be able to win support to pass bills that may make sense in the minds’ eyes, if we have those politicians who actually have their eyes and common sense on the roads and streets they and the electorate drive or walk on. I mean, if they are really and seriously thinking about what the health conditions of Serrekunda, Brikama, Jarra Soma, Bansang, Basse, Marcarthy Island, Kaur, Kerewan, Farrafeni, Barra; everywhere across the country would all be in the future with double their present populations without:-underground central Sewage systems, sufficient electricity, running household water proper housing schemes and good roads etc. etc …
It is a fact many love a multiparty democracy to their hearts but of course with politicians, with a clear right idea of why a nation needs politicians to represent constituencies, regions and country. ‘Kairo futatanma/hewal nyewna chi mann-politicians will always fail to help there electorate get aware of the potential atomic dangers in Tribal, sycophantic, opportunistic, belly and self-obsessed party politicking. Is there really a politician in the Gambia who has foreseen the inevitable needs for properly serviced underground sewage systems, completely tarred roads and streets with pavements in the next fifteen years? Do they actually think that each and every Gambian household has a right to an indoor kitchen, sanitations, pressured household running water, electricity, a fridge, tv and all inside a standard housing, in a fast developing world where the globe is warming red and Africa can’t make ice?
No one should think it is a dream to think we can make Gambia look as happy because in the worlds where the average citizens have acquired the aforementioned modern life’s necessities, the governments there from back when never thought like; it would be a dream to achieve the human and infrastructural development – they did today. Politicians in such nations’ governments do debate harshly, disagree and sometimes do even level bigotry at one another, but they are able to lead the way for sustainable democracies that made their cities shine like cosmic pours of twinkling colorful precious stones as could be seen above from an aeroplane by night. They achieved to make their habitats what they are today because what they did was – simply get up and start working towards their unimaginable super political ambitions consciously and honestly – despite their political partys’ diverse political promises, ideas and methods.
The women in the Gambia shouldn’t be working like that, not to mention those terrible ‘weapons’ in their hands that is not the least a help to their healths if not a total wreck to it. The picture doesn’t look like historical anyway and is likely Gambia or in the immediate neighboring countries. It startles to see politicians of the Gambia engage themselves in distractive issues or getting hell bent on defending crooked points, ideas or efforts that plainly would be understood by even tots as wrong, dishonest and shameful.
The art of politics is yet to get a meaning in most African countries. Just put some of the different pictures from it’s nations and work it through your mind. Japan will not be able to do a heck about rice production in Africa if African presidents, governments, civil servants and citizens are corrupt and they careless about the poor population and the future of the nation. They will run down every technology brought by japan by milking all the funds to build houses for themselves, open private businesses and send the Japanese partners packing.
If Japan is clean with her ambitions in agricultural partnership with African countries, they should bring with them to ’employ’, cutting edge digital programmes that knows how to kick of the alarms when a butut happens to be missing. If not, domestic employees would rob everything including the petrol tanked in the very vehicle allocated to them for their work. God sent angels among them who are honest and have the progress of the country at heart would be taken to Marabouts to be neutralized in their efforts because they pose to be blocking ‘kairo’ of others. This is the kind horrible mindset of the average Gambian. This sort of mindset is not poverty driven. This short of mindset is called “wickedness” to one’s country and future generations, wickedness to women like those in the picture and their children etc. As far as leaders, public office holders and civil servants of the Gambia continue to be those liabilities to the nation, development partners, even if their partnership gestures show all the graceful and transparency, nothing absolutely would be achieved from development partnerships.
“Japanese technology can play a key role in innovation which is key to agriculture,” Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told delegates.
Japan cannot bring about miracles in Africa. It is Africans that should pull themselves up by the bootstraps, employ simple but effective technologies to transform food production from the subsistence level to levels that will not only feed nations but also generate surpluses for the market.
Like Bourne alluded to above, it is the thievery that sinks every ship of hope. Our own brethren will punch holes in the ship just to get what they want out of donor and loan funds.
We are our worse enemies folks and until we learn to put the money where it’s destined to be, we will never be out of the woods but will continue toying with the JICA, GAWFA, GIEPA ….together with an NDP that will bring us ZILCH!! Is it so difficult to feed The Gambia? Not really. It is doable!
I’m reminded of the Wollof adage, DI SAHARR REKK TEH DU TAKKA!! Here’s The Gambia’s predicament.