Anaba Alema is a professor of agricultural training and communication in the University of Ghana

and a renowned expert in rural development and community relations. He speaks with Seye Adeniyi on why there is slow development in the agricultural sector of many African countries, especially in West Africa, and explains why many farmers in Africa are not adopting modern technologies and innovations. Excerpts:

From your experience and interaction with farmers, how would you describe an average farmer in Africa?
It depends on what you have in mind, but if you are talking about the real practising farmers and not political or newspaper farmers that are part of the slow development in the sector, then I would say African farmers are very intelligent, resilent and highly resourceful.

I would continue to praise them because they seems to be one of the major factors of stability and pillar for our existence in Africa because we all depend on their products for survival, especially in terms of feeding.

They are doing their utmost best for African people by keeping  their hopes alive despite the fact that they are operating under a very difficult condition of poverty, lack of physical infastrucutures, inability to access right types and adequate amounts of inputs like machinery, fertiliser, chemicals and most importantly absence of irrigation facilities, as well as shortage of technical know-how that should come from research and extention services

But some people have attributed slow pace of development in the agricultural sector of many African countries to the non-readiness of farmers to  adopt  modern technologies. Some people even said many African farmers are rigid to new innovations. How do you react to this?
I disagreed with this  opinion. I’ve been interacting with farmers for many years and I’ve been to some African countries to disseminate information to them. Look, African farmers are ready to try new concept they are willing to  adopt modern technologies provided you are ready to give them proper training and adequate information on how to use them. Everybody wants something that would add value to his or her life as well  boost his/her income, but it’s only that owners of such technologies or innovations have not been able to come down to the level of our farmers. That is why there is a wide gap between them and  farmers. So I want to tell you that African farmers are not illiterates as some people were made to believe, honestly, they are one of the highly intelligent and patient set of people I’ve ever met on the planet earth.

But they are not producing at the optimal capacity because we are yet to be food sufficient in Africa. Is Ghana food sufficient?
If you want to see their full potential and expect better performance from African farmers, then expose them to modern training. How many African leaders are taking care of farmers? Are they not treating them like low class citizens? Are they not cheating and exploiting them? Tell me one special programme that your country as well as other African countries packaged for farmers to fully harness their potential which would also take good care of their family as well as improve their welfare and standard of living? Yet, it is this same farmers that are taking care of all of us. Afterall, 80 per cent of African popualtion secures its  foods through these neglected or abandoned farmers.

I’m therefore begging African leaders to take good care of practising farmers in their countries so that the continent can remove the chains of second and modern slavery from the neck of their citizens, because as long as we continue to depend on European countries for the supply of bulk of our foods, then we are still under bondage. Look at the food crisis in some African countries and the toll effects it is having on the citizenry, honestly, it is a sad thing.

But we have arrays of renown agricultural experts, brilliant researchers and scientists in Africa with some of them making waves in developed nations of the world. So what is the actual problem?
Though these researchers are doing their best, but how many African leaders are encouraging them to contribute their quotas to the development of their countries? Do you take improved technologies or new innovations to an unimproved mind? It would be very difficult because acceptance and adoption of such innovations would be very slow. It is true we have many agriculture training institutions in Africa. In fact, we  have many colleges or schools of agriculture with many research institutes. But despite that, do we still suppose to be like this in Africa? Honestly, there is no effective communication in Africa and many vital information are not getting to practising farmers. So how do we develop at a faster phase?

Research and extension services are not getting to farmers and I would advice researchers and extension agents to come down to the level of African farmers through proper demonstration, effective and proper training as well as regular monitoring of field trials.

Farmers should also have a scope in extention process to accept and manage risk, they should be exposed to training, and our leaders should establish schools for them no matter their age. We should appreciate them because they are the one sustaining the livelohhod and security of the majority of African populations.

How is cocoa production in Ghana. Is it true that cocoa farming is enjoying government support and funding? 
Yes. As far as we are concerned in Ghana, our target is to continue to maintain our current leadership role in Africa and at the rate at which we are going, Nigeria may not be our match in the area of cocoa production.

Are you underrating Nigeria?
Your country can’t  meet us not to talk of overtaking us beacuse we are serious with agriculture, especially cocoa production unlike Nigeria. Nigeria has a better opportunity of being the African number one producer of many crops, but the country is not making use of the opportunity. It is a country whose street is all gold, yet, the people decided to be walking inside mud. May God help Nigeria to attain its expected position in Africa.