Energy crucial to agric sector growth

Lazarus Sauti

Food security issues in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) require attention of regional leaders, stakeholders in the agriculture sector as well as development practitioners.

This is so because most people in the regional bloc are in need of food and other non-food resistance.

“Southern Africa currently lags behind all other regions in terms of farm productivity levels, with depressed crop and livestock yields and limited use of irrigation and other inputs,” says Dr Gift Mugano, an economic advisor, author and expert in trade and competitiveness.

The Director in charge of Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources at the SADC Secretariat, Margaret Nyirenda recently told journalists ahead of the 35^th SADC Summit in Botswana that the number of people in need of food and other non-food assistance has risen from 24 million last year to 27.4 million this year.

This is largely because of the drought and floods that have affected the region heightening calls to move away from over reliance on rain-fed agriculture to agriculture.

Regional leaders must therefore look for ways to improve food security and one fire proof way is to invest in energy as it is a critical component that drives the agriculture sector.

There are various forms of energy that play a pivotal role on the farms.

For instance, electricity which is used to power various machines is also used for space heating by those doing piggery, poultry and nurseries.

Coal is used for firing boilers and for tobacco curing, while diesel and petrol are used to power vehicles and equipment.

For heating and cooking, farmers also use gas, paraffin as well as firewood which is also used for tobacco curing.

Despite the various forms of energy available, farmers in SADC still face challenges in accessing adequate energy for use on the farms, and this failure to access adequate energy is hampering development in the agriculture sector.

Wonder Chabikwa, chairperson of the Farmers’ Union Joint Presidents Council in Zimbabwe, notes: “Often times with energy it is the issue of inadequacy that is the constant load-shedding of electricity by the provider, cost especially with coal, diesel and petrol, lack of and little knowledge on best ways to utilise available energy by the farmers.

“We experience load-shedding, especially during the wheat planting season where it is critical for a farmer to have electricity and this tends to disrupt production or force farmers to switch to diesel which is also expensive.

“In the past, farmers used to buy fuel at wholesale prices as farming was considered a primary industry, but this is not the case now.”

Dr Mugano says SADC countries must invest in the energy sector as it is of paramount importance to ensuring sustainable development in the agriculture sector.

“Investment in energy as well as rural infrastructure stimulates the volume of production by smallholder farmers,” he added.

Agriculture expert Dickson Matenda concurs: “SADC member states must invest in energy and empower smallholder farmers to close the food shortages gap.

“Smallholder farmers play a major role in increasing food availability close to where it is most needed.”

Elias Masilela of National Planning Commission in South Africa, says agriculture is an important economic pillar and as such countries within the SADC region must invest in energy and other services that go into rural areas where it (farming) takes place.

“The reason why agriculture is not doing well in most SADC countries is because they do not have all services they need to make sure the productivity of agriculture compares to other sectors.

“If we think of agriculture as the next wave of our growth, we need to invest in services that go into rural areas where agriculture takes place,” he said.

Masilela added that Southern Africa must be concerned with the energy sector as well as other infrastructure needs in the economy.

He said SADC countries should avoid creating bottlenecks by sorting out problems in the power sector, but do nothing about infrastructure, a fact supported by Matenda who said “the energy challenge is not the only problem Southern Africa must be concerned itself with.”

“To power agriculture, regional leaders must deal with energy challenges. However, the energy crisis is not the only problem Southern Africa must be concerned with.

“Leaders must deal with other infrastructural issues that are crucial in sustainable economic development,” said Matenda.

Karen Daniel of Black and Veatch Corp, a global leader in engineering, procurement and construction services for the crucial areas of energy, water and telecommunications, says to effectively meet rising energy needs and ensure growth in the agriculture sector, countries need power integration.

“The integration of the delivery of power is a big deal. To meet rising energy needs, countries need this integration of power,” said Daniel.

SADC needs power integration more than any other region as it has been facing an electricity deficit since 2007.

Briefing the media in Gaborone recently, the Director of Infrastructure and Services at SADC, Remy Makumbe said the region has a lot of work to do, because access to electricity, especially in rural areas is below 10 percent in most member states.

“The overall electricity access for the region stands at 36 percent compared to 44 percent for the Economic Community of West African States.

“Presently electricity demand in the region has increased by a weighted average of 3 percent per annum during 2014/2015,” he said.