FAO.org

To the question raised by Dr. Justin Chisenga

Do you have youth role models in agriculture in your countries?

Yes there are but very few in number and their success of degree constrained for different homogeneous and heterogeneous factors that determine the accelerative of achievement to optimum level.

Who are they?

They are public extension or scaling out of technology users [like crop varieties-food crop and cash crop (vegetables and fruit), poultry technologies user-(layer, broilers and dual purpose birds)] in the agro-pastoral communities and mid and highland agro-ecological zones of the country.

What have they done to serve as role models to other youths who want to engage in agriculture?

There is an experience sharing type of technological scaling out system that are implemented as a model system in Ethiopian Institutes of Agricultural Research which is known as organizing farm level field day with different stakeholders participation; with this day they will share all the SWOT of technologies implemented with for food security, income generation, and livelihood. Yet; the system needs other triangulated innovative modalities to encompass many different youth.

If yes, would you say they are doing well in their work?

I could say that with few degree of reservation as there are best ways of making them so productive and efficient with different innovative modalities of agricultural technologies use.

1) Biodiversity is an important contributor to food security and improved nutrition. Could you share examples?

I am going to state my sweet nation of Ethiopia with its smallholder farmer production system. Ethiopian farmers use diversified production system with application of biodiversity with in the subsector of crop production itself with rotation production system to maintain fertility, nutritional contribution to the household consumption and food security; furthermore they diversify with horizontal integration with livestock system especially cattle and small ruminants (sheep, goat, poultry, bee); yet with an increasing of chemical application and range land declines especially on the highlands of Ethiopia because of diversified reasons like population pressure; the so called industries are conquering the fertile land than marginal land; housing of urbanization use the fertile land than marginal land; and other factors pressurized the range or grazing land for highlanders to increase production system of livestock. These hamper the production system. But still the smallholder tries to diversify at homestead production.

For today let me only focus on the first question "under what condition can agriculture contribute in poverty alleviation of the extreme poor”.

For this let’s view the technology in research and development:

1. For those households who have limited access to productive resource; access to agricultural technologies via public extension or non-public system is vital. In this case capacity development and technologies package system can accelerate the lift-up from poverty.

2. On the other direction the technologies should be targeted to the available resource that can be may be used diary, poultry, beekeeping-like using hill side development integrated with afforestation and conservation development or river bank application system.

3. On the crop production side horticultural crop at homestead level and early maturing type of production of high value crops can have a returns yet the food crop production has to be sustainable (engage them marketing system like creating a small scale cooperative development).

4. Here the big solution should come from the research and development with triangulated solution involving policy makers, and other stakeholders. There is a thought that agriculture contribution to poverty alleviation is minimal when compare to non-agricultural sector; which I disagree because agriculture has a versatile effect from food security, nutrition, market stability, employment, environmental stabilization, etc but it needs smart policy makers with different stakeholder to the issue of poverty if the optimal policy is implemented then it’s effect will accelerate trigonometrically with diversified effect and will apply diffusion its impact to raw materials and others. But it has to have a curiosity as it will affect also human health directly.  

1. Do you think the provisions of the WTO Agreement on Agriculture (AoA) provide sufficient policy space for domestic support for countries in Africa? Why or why not?

I don't think so because the African agricultural market is dominated with small scale and it is yet to be mechanised in use of different infrastructure and innovation. Here the basic thing to be considered is the land holding of households in Sub Saharan Africa. So the WTO organization advocates policies of free trade; though it gives special safeguard provision, domestic support commitments and market access yet this can't be sufficient policy space because it needs change in the farming community with parameters that can pull the out from their vicious circle of poverty and feron/firon /pheroahnians farming sytem plowing with animal. Even though the WTO tries its best to create a good environment in the world market, the policy makers in Africa are tied only on their dynastical policy than the innovative system to create productivity for the small scale producers.

2. In your opinion, do export restrictions enhance or undermine food security in African countries? Should the WTO disciplines on export restrictions be stricter or allow greater flexibility?

The two ways could be balanced. In case of export restriction the domestic market can boom out because supplies are avail with good price for consumers at the domestic market but this can also affect the price of the supplier and the gain of foreign exchange to the national economy. Yet; food security can be attained in the short run but it will have its residual effect on the long run.

On the other hand export restriction can affect the market price for competitive gain for the suppliers. So the supplier might not gain the cost from the revenue for profitability and promotion to increase productivity in the long run.

For the WTO should have a flexible export policy but this doesn't have to compromise quality and arbitrage.

3. What efforts can be made at the multilateral level, to complement regional integration efforts? In your opinion, are there some policy areas that are better addressed at the multilateral level, and others at the regional level?

Integration should be comparative and absolute advantage of regions with infrastructural effectiveness to ease access to market. Integration should not be always having an equilibrium advantage but the balanced one is good and it can smooth the integration system at alarming forward. Here there are integration factors so try to solve those factors at micro and macro level can enhance the development.