What if Africa could replicate the Common Agricultural Policy of the European Union?
As previously noted, the East African Community (EAC), which unites eight countries in East Africa, from South Sudan in the north to Tanzania in the south, and DRC Congo in the west to Somalia in the east, has the potential to drive unprecedented economic growth and political stability—similar to Europe’s journey from the Coal and Steel Community to the global powerhouse we today know as the EU, cf.
Can Africa’s Future Be Shaped by a Regional Development Fund? Lessons from the EU’s Success
For generations, people in Europe and beyond have enjoyed a wide variety of high-quality food. This did not happen by accident. It was the EU’s common agricultural policy which, for the first time, introduced rules for Member States that would support the farming sector after years of devastating war and famine. The policy, known as the CAP, has evolved over decades to respond to a changing market, consumer demands and factors such as climate change and the need for sustainable development.
Sixty-three years since its birth in 1962, the CAP today supports an open single market for EU agricultural food products, ensuring affordable prices, maintaining some of the world’s highest safety and environmental standards, and keeping rural communities vibrant.
Is the possibility of Africa following in Europe’s footsteps and creating a unified, prosperous agricultural region too far-fetched? With over 300 million people spread across eight nations, the East African Community (EAC) surely has the potential to become a regional powerhouse, just as the European Union (EU) is today, with or without the United States as the partner it has been since the end of the Second World War 80 years ago in 1945.
In 1962, the ministers of the six founding countries of the European Communities concluded an agreement giving legal effect to the first common European agricultural policy. The policy’s original goals are included in the Treaty of Rome, and remain at the heart of the CAP today:
■ increasing productivity and stabilising markets
■ ensuring the availability of food at reasonable prices
■ providing fair living standards to farmers
The EU’s success during the following years, in integrating former communist states and fostering rapid economic growth proves that regional cooperation, bolstered by development funds and global partnerships, can transform a continent. Could the same blueprint work for Africa, with the EAC leading the way in creating an East African common agricultural policy?
But how can this vision become reality, and what role could or should international organisations like the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the World Bank, and other organisations of the United Nations, play in this respect? Let’s delve deeper.
What made Europe approach the status of the United States as the world’s dominant superpower? It began with the six member states of the Coal and Steel Community in 1952, today called the “European Union”, with 27 member states from Portugal and Ireland in the west to the Baltic States and Romania in the east (446 million inhabitants).
The EU now has 27 member states, which is quite an accomplishment since its establishment in the 1950s, when it started with six member states.
The farming sectors in both Europe and Africa face some unique challenges; both are highly dependent on the weather and the climate, and production requires time and planning, resulting in a gap between consumer demand and supply. Unpredictable demand patterns cause permanent market instability, leading to volatile prices. These factors affect farmers’ revenues, which in Europe are around 40% lower than those in other sectors, which is no doubt also the case in Africa.
Public support for farmers in the European Union is regarded as necessary to ensure the supply of safe and affordable food for the population of Europe. By means of direct payments, the CAP ensures that farmers are assured a stable income. Through the CAP, the EU also supports the maintenance and development of the agricultural sector. However, fewer and fewer young people are choosing to start a career in farming. Only about 10% of the EU’s farm managers are under 40. It is a challenge to attract younger talent to the sector. However, it would appear that the opposite might be the case in Africa where some 70-80% of the population are typically working in agriculture.
Today, the EU single market offers European farmers access to 447 million customers in 27 countries, allowing them to distribute their produce beyond national borders. That is how Greek olives and olive oil can be found on supermarket shelves in Sweden, or Irish farmers can sell their meat in Italy. EU farmers also export to countries outside the EU. On a global level, EU agri-food products are sold and consumed by millions of people all over the world, making the EU the top global exporter of food. But the EU also imports food and agricultural commodities from other countries. In a market-oriented approach, where the EU is committed to the multilateral trading system and expanding its network of bilateral trade agreements, the EU is the third largest food importer worldwide today.
Where is the situation for the farmers in the eight EAC member states in respect of distributing their produce beyond national borders? I was told that the heads of state in Kenya and Tanzania have agreed that wine from the wine fields around Dodoma (the capital of Tanzania), would not face any problems in accessing the Kenyan market, but so far I have not found any CETAWICO or other Tanzanian wines in wine stores in Nairobi … .
According to the CAP, specific payments will be provided to farmers that adopt climate-sensitive and nature-friendly practices. Examples of these actions are:
- organic farming
- crop rotation
- carbon farming
- agro-ecology
Around 30 years ago was the first time organic policies were harmonised in Europe. Since then, the sector has seen great development: 66% of agricultural land under organic farming was granted CAP support and almost 10% of agricultural land is now under organic farming in the EU.
What about establishing a similar common agricultural policy in the EAC, administered by the EAC bodies, with funding contributed by, e.g., the various development funds of the OECD countries and the World Bank?
Annex: Action plan for development of the farming sector in the East African Community
1) A general land reform to enable the creation of a sustainable agricultural sector by increasing the size of the average farm from less than 10 ha (25 acres) to at least ten to 20 ha (25 to 50 acres) by awarding smallholder farmers ownership of available land;
2) The establishment of a comprehensive network of farming colleges where farmers/students (of all ages) will receive basic training during 3-6 months of the year;
3) Review the current approach to ‘zero-grazing’ to ensure it is implemented in accordance with with “Standards for organic animal husbandry”; this means i.a. that that landless zero grazing is not allowed;
4) Start the production of Ethanol bio-fuel in the EAC based on sugar-cane, like Brazil did it in 1975, to ensure a more environmentally friendly use of farm equipment; in fact, Ethanol fuel could replace fossil fuels like petrol and diesel for all motor vehicles in general.
Main source:= https://agriculture.ec.europa.eu/common-agricultural-policy/cap-overview/cap-glance_en#documents choose “Feeding Europe: 60 years of common agricultural policy”.
