Revitalising EU-ACP Cooperation:
How Decentralised Cooperation Can Contribute to Poverty Eradication in Africa
Issues Paper prepared for the Summit of ACP Heads of State and Government
Libreville, Gabon, 6-7 November 1997
The World Bank is an important player in terms of poverty alleviation, though its last report was quite pitiful. It maintains that it is committed to the problem of poverty, though it has no idea of how extensive is the problem. In fact it admits that, "it is a sorry state of affairs when we know least about poverty in the region where poverty is most a problem". The emphasis on free enterprise, the development of markets and the enabling environment for private capital is the main priority for the Bank. Poverty alleviation let alone eradication is not its concern.
According to various calculations by NGO sources and United Nations agencies, the number of people below the poverty line in sub-Saharan Africa is approximately 150 million out of 400 million. That is an extremely high figure and indicates a profound crisis. This figure does not include the recent crisis in the Great Lakes Region and Central Africa, where thousands of people are still displaced and hungry. The 150 million who do not live an "active working life" suffer from dietary deficiencies. In view of this monumental task of essentially development, the primary responsibility of resolving the problem of poverty lies with the people in the ACP countries.
It is important that the EU has committed itself to join ACP countries in the fight against poverty. It is not clear whether the EU is clear about its perceptions about poverty. In some documents it talks about eradication, but in other about alleviation. Then again its idea of reduction might mean the integration of ACP countries in the world economy. Which could mean that there is no need to raise resources for a specific programme on Africa. ACP countries have to insist on a programme for poverty eradication that involves an element of relief, but also solid programmes for human development and training.
There should be a disproportionate attention to women farmers in all programmes concerned with food production and poverty eradication. In fact women have to be considered as the key to solving the poverty crisis in Africa. As a result they have to be supported with the means to increase productivity and be provided with adequate health care.
The ACP states with the Union should advocate the expansion of the programmes called decentralised cooperation. Though it has not been fully worked out and not all its rules established, it promises to be an effective instrument to establish grass roots development projects. The projects will be participatory, with a culture of human rights, but will cooperate with the state to carry out its functions.
With examples from Ethiopia, Guinea-Bissau, Ghana, Uganda, Tanzania and South Africa, this paper illustrates the type of projects that should be encouraged in the rubric of decentralised cooperation and poverty eradication.
Given the magnitude of the task of poverty eradication the number of people involved should be greatly expanded. If we consider it as an overriding objective, all the methods proposed should be applied including integration into the world and local economy, grass roots development projects, state enterprise and employment for temporary periods abroad.
Even with the cooperation of the European Commission and the OECD countries, poverty remains an intractable problem within ACP countries, and indeed in other parts of the South.
In statistical terms, if UNDP measures were applied instead of World Bank figures, the extent of poverty would shock most intelligent observers. This is an important point. The two major world organisations who deal with development differ widely in their estimates of the extent and depth of the existence of poverty on the globe. Without going into statistical semantics, the UNDP has developed a more comprehensive approach to development indicators, expanding the notion of development beyond mere economic growth and envisaging the development of human persons and collectives as the goal of economic activity. The organisation also goes beyond the poverty alleviation concept promoted by other agencies and tries to give substance to a strategy of poverty eradication.
The two approaches are different in their philosophical and practical outlook. The approach of poverty reduction mobilizes public (Official and Multilateral) funds to bring rescue and relief to those who suffer extreme deprivation and have lost their sense of dignity as human beings. The approach also concedes that, despite massive wealth creation since the second world war, poverty remains a dominant feature in human society. But this does not address the phenomenon of impoverishment: the continuous production of more poverty and the growing gap between those who have excess and those who lack excess, both inside countries and between nations and hemispheres.
ACP countries should only talk of poverty eradication and not of poverty alleviation. They are two different concepts. The latter is more about relief and dealing with immediate crises, while the latter aims to create employment and to enhance human capacity. Sometimes the two can be combined in the same programme.
In sub-Saharan Africa, poverty remains a pivotal problem for development. A similar case can be made for the Caribbean and Pacific countries. The economic crisis in sub-Saharan Africa has been going on for the last twenty-five years, with a severe depression in the 1980s, when the "lost decade" registered negative growth rates. It was also a period of adjustment to the structure of the economies. The persistence of negative growth rates brought about an absolute decline in per capita income to about $548 per year, with 150 million people or 40 per cent of the population of 400 million, experiencing living standards below the poverty line, i.e. not being able to live an "active working life" because of dietary deficiencies. This does not include the major human catastrophes visited on the continent in West and Central Africa. It was estimated that, over a period of 15 years, per capita income fell by 30 per cent.
The more discouraging fact about Africa was that it would take up to 50 years for most of the population to restore income levels to those of the mid-seventies, if the economy grew at faster rates. Today the total wealth of Africa, excluding South Africa, with twice the population of the United States, is little more than that of Belgium. In view of the dietary shortfall on the continent, food production is perhaps most urgent. African food production, where it has a comparative advantage, has been declining since the 1970s. Food production increased on average by 1.5 per cent, whereas population grew at twice that rate. As a result, half of all households in sub-Saharan Africa suffered from food deprivation. Food production per capita has fallen by 15 per cent since the 1970s, and the food import bill reached $15 billion in 1992. The effect of this decline, has been the spread of malnutrition, especially among women and children, which in turn has led to the spread of disease and illness.
An additional factor in Africa is the poor quality of land available for production for a large number of people. Approximately 50 per cent of the poor in Africa live on marginal lands characterized by low productivity and high susceptibility to environmental degradation, including arid lands, soils with low fertility, steep slopes, urban slums and squatter settlements, compared to 80 per cent of the poor in Latin America and 60 per cent of the poor in Asia. In fact many of the most deprived people also live in most ecologically vulnerable areas. The environmental degradation that results when people use these marginal lands for fuel wood and for subsistence and cash crops makes their poverty worse. It also threatens their health and well being and that of their children. And as cash crop production displaces subsistence activity, the poor are further marginalised and pushed into environmentally fragile lands.
In terms of policy options, the World Bank remains the most important institution on the continent. Its activities affect all aspects of macro-economic policy. European policy has to be located within the context of what the Bank does, especially in the important area of poverty alleviation. After all, the Bank is now responsible for 75 per cent of all financial flows into the continent. The subordination of European policy to directions set in Washington is perhaps more a question of future consideration than for the present. Nevertheless, because of the power and influence of the Bank, its attitude on questions of poverty is crucial to Africa.
The Bank claims that adjustment has helped the poor in Africa, but in the absence of detailed evidence it is not sure. According to the 1994 Report, Adjustment in Africa: Reforms, Results and the Road Ahead, "The poor are probably better off and almost certainly no worse off" as a result of economic reforms. "It is a sorry state of affairs when we know least about poverty in the region where poverty is most a problem," the report observes. The Bank assures its readers that a more comprehensive survey of households is underway in the Social Dimensions of Adjustment Program, which will throw much more light on the changes in living standards in Africa, though comprehensive results are not expected for some time.
In its attempt to counter criticism from non-governmental organisations and others in the academic world that living conditions are deteriorating wherever adjustment has been put into practice, the report argues that the social costs have largely been limited to the relatively well-off urban areas, with the "silent majority" of Africa’s poor, small farming households, benefiting from reforms. However, it also makes important qualifications. Firstly, in Madagascar and some other cases, the urban poor have been hurt by reforms such as reductions in subsidies. Further, the report concedes that many of the adjustment programs "did not pay enough attention" to ensuring adequate provision of services to the poor. Thirdly, it implicitly acknowledges that the primary focus of adjustment is not poverty reduction and that the direct assault on poverty should come from wider development and investment programs. The important concession the Bank does make is that the linkage between adjustment and poverty reduction does not exist and any belief to that effect is purely illusory. The second part of the argument which equates faster growth with poverty reduction remains to be explored.
The Bank in this context has provided advice to African Governments. It argues that governments still spend their money on the wrong things. They should spend money on primary health clinics and primary schools rather than higher education and big hospitals. The Bank boldly states, "the continuing misallocation of Africa's social spending clearly work against the poor." Adjusting spending priorities is essential for faster growth, particularly in primary education.
Social safety nets, such as food or income subsidies, can help ease the pain of adjustment, but these are inefficient and potentially costly methods, says the Bank. Instead, focusing public expenditure programs on the supply of basic services is probably the best way to directly improve living conditions for the poor. The report is essentially still supportive of adjustment and all the policy tools that go with it. However, fundamental questions remain on the impact of these policies on poverty reduction and the vital question on how needed reforms should be implemented.
The Bank however still faces two fundamental questions that it refuses to answer. How will it make adjustment politically and socially sustainable, and how will it ensure that it reduces poverty in what is already the most impoverished continent. The Bank gives little comfort to those struggling with these questions and alarmingly asserts that in Ghana, the country it regards as having the most effective adjustment policies, the poor "will not cross the poverty line for another fifty years." Further, it also asserts that after ten years of implementing structural adjustment programs, not a single African country has achieved a sound macro-economic policy.
Not surprisingly there has been strong criticism of the report, especially from the NGO community and the academic world. Oxfam labeled the report "a blend of half-truths, over simplifications and institutional propaganda." The Development Group for Alternative Policies, an influential think-tank, assailed the report as "deceptive" and as an "insensitive attempt to dismiss the realities and suffering of the poor with self-serving assumptions."
The Wall Street Journal, through its writer, Tim Carrington suggested that the report's message "belies the huge size of Africa's development task. The amount of growth that African states can generate by sound macro-economic policies alone is too paltry to relieve significantly the wretched poverty of the continent."
However the main critique of the report revolves around its failure to systematically answer the charges made by grassroots organisations, NGOs and trade unions, that the Bank’s version of adjustment is deepening poverty in Africa. The message has reached the portals of the United Nations where the General Assembly has asked that special attention be paid to eradicating poverty and addressing the social impact of Adjustment.
The Bank now asserts that poverty reduction will in the future be monitored, and the President has invited a representative group of NGOs to present evidence on the subject.
Given this scenario, it is highly unlikely that poverty reduction, let alone eradication, will feature as a high priority in World Bank thinking. For ACP states, the World Bank and IMF (International Monetary Fund) should not be considered as development institutions, but as commercial banks, with a few concessionary windows.
For Africa, the most important effect of these changes has been a profound marginalisation and impoverishment. There are more Africans who have less to do with the global economy than ever before. There are more Africans who do not belong to the modern market place than ever before. There are more Africans who exist at a subsistence level than ever before. There are more Africans who are unemployed or under-employed than ever before. There are more Africans who exist at poverty levels or below poverty levels than ever before. There are more Africans who suffer from illness and diseases than ever before. The life expectancy of Africans is well below the world average.
In addition, the environment in which Africans have to survive is deteriorating, through desertification and soil erosion. The deserts in Africa are spreading at a fast pace, since nobody is responsible for them. Because of the constant famines that Africa experiences, the population and the animals that they depend on are constantly under threat. The forests that hundreds of communities survive on are slowly being barred to them.
The task of developing Africa will remain the responsibility of Africans in the final analysis. No external technology or body of knowledge will somehow provide the magic answer. It is crucial to continue to emphasize that given the importance and gravity of the task of development in Africa, especially with regard to poverty eradication, that the entire population is involved in its solution. It is important also to recognize that forces outside Africa should continue to play a supportive role.
However, it is important that the European Union has committed itself to a programme of poverty reduction in its Green Paper on the future of ACP-EU relations. This commitment is not likely to be dropped or ignored, because of its universal support. The amount of resources the Union devotes to this budget depends on the future negotiations with the ACP countries. The program of poverty reduction should be welcomed by the ACP states. It is assumed that the bulk of the resources will fall within the category of programme help. The ACP countries should maintain this category, because of the flexibility it accords.
The NGO consortium, Eurostep, that has commented on the Green Paper, points to the fact that the Commission keeps referring to poverty reduction rather than eradication This is despite the fact that it was a signatory to the Declaration and Programme of Action of the World Summit for Social Development. As Eurostep comments, the sleight of hand might not be unintentional. "Although the campaign against poverty is regarded as one of the main objectives of EU development cooperation there is no real analysis ... as to how poverty can be reduced (let alone eradicated) except as a result of economic growth and the integration of developing countries within the world economy." The Social Summit in fact called explicitly for intervention to enhance human capital.
Eurostep suspects a laissez faire attitude. "While the community already has some experience with counterpart funds and structural adjustment support ... it cannot automatically assume that budget support is used towards strategies for eliminating poverty".
The European Court of Auditors notes in this respect that ... although the provision of the Lomé Convention insists that particular attention be paid to the most vulnerable social categories ... it is clear that in some countries there has been a shift in favor of measures to restore the financial equilibrium to the public sector. In so doing, the EDF's resources have not been allocated in full to the poorest elements in society".
Despite this negative point, we assume that the European Union is committed to some form of poverty eradication, and that its prepared to cooperate with ACP governments to tackle the problem. In this context, it is clear that the strategy of integrating Africa in the global market can only have a limited effect on poverty. This is precisely because Africa's technical base in both equipment and trained manpower is at the moment too low. This is not to suggest that this a permanent condition, but it will take a long time for Africa to reach the levels of South Korea, if indeed this is desirable.
The most important part of the population that needs to be involved in poverty eradication is the women of Africa, This is largely because they have become the main producers of local food. This is not to say that they are totally excluded from the production of commercial crops, but that women are more and more responsible for the feeding of most families and children. They have also become the main labour force in rural areas, due to the absence of men, who are seeking work in the urban areas.
This awesome responsibility goes with a price. The health of women and therefore the children they bear is extremely vulnerable, especially in periods of drought and famine. The are more likely to contract illness and disease because of this vulnerability.
The dependence on women for the food that is required, means a certain change in priorities when we consider programmes for poverty eradication. If the food delivery system is to remain in this state for some time to come, then there needs to be a substantial increase in investment in the entire infrastructure in the rural areas. In the basic level, inputs will have to be provided for women farmers to increase productivity, this means more fertilizer, seed, tools and fencing. It means more resources for transport and storage, including extension services to support the women. Auxiliary services like the extension of credit are becoming important in many rural areas.
The problem of land ownership cannot be considered here, but it is constantly mentioned by women in the rural areas as something that needs to be solved. Women will feel confident and secure by owning land, and this will have remarkable results in productivity.
If the strategy is to make the women the main source of food and sustenance, then the entire health structure needs to be improved. Basic medicine in properly maintained and equipped clinics has to be provided, with a staff that is aware of what their contribution is to poverty eradication.
The staff in the health clinics are important sources of information and evaluation on levels of poverty in their regions. This is not uniformly so, but they are more likely to detect the state of health in their regions than most other actors. They can also predict impending disasters, since the health of their patients tend to decline when an illness is approaching. They can also predict the condition of children, who usually give the first indication of a deterioration.
It is important that EU and ACP countries maintain a senior dialogue on poverty eradication. This should occur on two levels. One on the political level where a highly publicized conference on poverty eradication should take place, and secondly a smaller conference by experts should be convened.
The one can feed on the other in its analysis and predictions. At the moment, the problem of poverty is essentially drowned by a deluge of optimistic sounds from the communications technology that have no idea of what the state of people have come to. Apart from publicity in the ACP countries, it would be valuable at some point to have hearings in the European Parliament on poverty eradication and the progress that both the Commission and ACP countries are making.
It is now conventional wisdom that state-inspired development has serious limitations, as has the total reliance on foreign investment as an engine of growth. In Africa, the much heralded export-led growth has not materialized in any meaningful form. We can even boldly suggest that the communication revolution that has excited the West and the East might bypass Africa altogether. Even the relatively sounder textile production is being threatened by far east imports.
There are of course large agricultural sectors in Africa that are important to the livelihood of thousands, and large mining and infrastructure projects. In some countries even manufacturing industries have made a sizable contribution. Yet Africa has a large unemployed population of up to 50-60 per cent that needs to be employed. This is part of the population that is destabilizing large parts of Africa, by playing toy soldiers to devastating effect. It is also the basis for the flourishing drug trade that has sprung up so spectacularly in the last five years. And it is also the basis of the growing criminal gangs in the area.
It is urgent that a strategy be found that can provide some sort of employment to a growing army of school leavers, who live on the margins of society. Together with the unemployed, this is the reserve army that has the potential to threaten most societies. ACP countries and EU authorities should consider increasing the power and reach of decentralised cooperation as a possible and partial solution to poverty eradication.
For the purposes of simplicity we assume that projects can be encouraged within the broad rubric of decentralised cooperation, because it allows for a flexible structure of project planning and implementation. It also allows for the participation of civil society, with the approval of the state. In fact the idea is to broaden the actors that are involved in the development process, by reducing the monopoly of the state. It is also evident that the pure financial power of the state is diminishing and that it cannot do all that it wants to do, nor is this desirable.
The development process must also reach the grass roots, because that is where the people are and that is where the activities can take place. Apart from encouraging participation, this also creates the conditions for the spread of democracy and human rights. In this way, the culture of anti-repression and anti-corruption can spread. In addition, decision making and management must be transferred to the lowest level of responsibility and thus allow authority to spread and not be confined to a few at the top. The method also implies that the learning process is done while on the job, since this is the only way in which capacity can be built and imparted. The process in fact must go deeper and wider into society to embrace as many people from the margins as possible.
Decentralised cooperation also implies a highly pragmatic view about development, since it incorporates the philosophy of "learning by doing". This would spread the idea of civil society determining its own strategy and its own development priorities. This does not mean an opposition to the state, but a type of burden sharing, where civil society assumes certain responsibilities for development, on a smaller scale.
Within this rubric there are examples of projects that not only work on the continent but also provide sustenance to thousands of people, at the grass roots.
The first set of projects involves agricultural communities in harsh conditions and therefore vulnerable to famine or declining food production. These could be said to be more in line with traditional development efforts, but with the prospect of being sustainable. One example in Ethiopia has been supported by the Lutheran World Services, and is benefiting some 225,000 rural people. It is a project that evolved out of the relief effort during the 1984/85 famine that claimed as many as 1 million lives.
The task of the project was historical in that it aimed at the "reversal of land degradation in Eastern Ethiopia". Population growth, without changes in the traditional land use practice, coupled with recurrent drought in many parts of the country, has lead to serious land degradation, low productivity and the accompanying human misery. The project focuses on soil and water conservation by changing the traditional methods of river diversion using mud and logs for the construction of earth dams and tap water supply. There is also the development of plant nurseries, afforestation, plus the supply of different agricultural inputs such as improved seeds, ploughs, ovens, and fertilizer etc. In 3 years, the project has constructed 4 earth dams, 66 river diversions, 230 km of canals and 5 protectors for springs.
By the use of food for work programs, project officers involved the community in the labour used for construction and protection.
Since water needs were a central concern of the farmers, their involvement was enthusiastic from the beginning. Use was made of "water maleks" or water committees, which existed in traditional society. The are the ones who protect, administer and organise water development in these areas. Later, representatives of peasant organisations were included in the consultation process. The water committees were expended to include elders and directly elected representatives from villages.
Community participation became crucial when the assets of the projects had to be protected from "rebel" assault. When the Issacs and Oromos were in minor conflict, dissidents had taken advantage of the situation to rob vehicles, killing drivers and passengers etc. It was the water committees that arranged patrols by each tribe, thereby ensuring the safety of the project.
Community support also extended to the implementation of the project, as well as the follow up and management after completion. Employment on the project was done so as not to disengage the community members from farming. A major element of the project is training for members on the use of irrigation, canal clearance and plant nursery development. Up to 100,000 people have benefited from this training. A major shortcoming of the project has been the limited number of women involved in the water committees. This is now being addresses by education and encouragement of women.
A similar project has existed in the IOI region of Guinea-Bissau. It involves 27 villages and aims to ensure food self-sufficiency for the inhabitants. The villages are organised in the Federation of Traditional Associations for Community Development (KAFO), and the project is implemented through the federation. Some 52 villages are earmarked in the region to be included. This was on the basis of an encouraging evaluation of the first six villages that was part of the initial project. The main aim of the project is to increase the production of cereals in the form of rice by the renovating rice fields that were damaged during the colonial war against the Portuguese. In addition, the project aims to improve the rural infrastructure by the construction of granaries and wells and through the creation of youth centers to reverse migration into the towns. A crucial part of the first objective of food self sufficiency is the preparation of compost and the use of animal traction. The project relies on the mobilization of the population on traditional grounds at the same time making sure that innovation is absorbed. A factor of utmost importance is the involvement of women at every stage of the project, from inception to completion. The introduction of mills, presses for oil extraction and the production of salt is aimed at the alleviation of the work load of women. As a result, about 70 per cent of the women in the region are involved in this project.
By 1995 (the project started in 1990) food has been produced in surplus and some have been sold in the local market. The is extremely encouraging, since the project can now claim to be sustainable as more surpluses can make it self-sufficient.
Central to the economic restoration of sub-Saharan Africa is the role of women, whose projects must be supported. They ultimately remain responsible for the maintenance of families, especially the children. They are in many cases the only source of income in the family and their efforts determine the welfare of entire communities in towns and villages. Given the division of labour in the rural areas and the drift to the cities, women are responsible for most of the food produced in Africa, without which most people would starve.
In Ghana, the FAO Freedom from Hunger Campaign, coordinated by women, has worked with 13 villages to introduce modest innovations that have increased outputs and provided higher incomes for the families involved.
In the fishing industry, coastal villages depend on the women to process and market the fish. The men do the actual fishing. They sell their catch to the women, who process it by smoking, salting or drying. The processed fish is then transported to the markets in Accra and other areas in the north. The women were using traditional methods of fish smoking which were time-consuming and they incurred losses due to spillage and fetched lower prices at the market. By promoting the idea of framing the wire mesh with hardwood boards to make trays, the women were able to process (smoke) 220-240 kg of fish a day. This was an increase of four to five times over the traditional method. The trays are stacked one on top of another to keep fish separated and constitute a sort of chimney. It is covered at the top with sheets of plywood for effective circulation and retention of the smoke.
The high cost of wire mesh, plywood and wawa board prevent the traditional smokers from adopting the improved technology and from replacing worn-out trays. Women who do not have enough trays are compelled to dry most of their fish.
Fish smoking projects in this programme cover six fishing villages along the coast of Greater Accra. The project assists the women to gain access to improved technology of fish smoking. It also provides loans for use as revolving funds. The revolving funds are used solely to buy fish for smoking. This enables the women to store adequate fish for sale during the lean season when prices are higher.
Cassava is planted throughout the year and is the most abundant crop in the Greater Accra region. It constitutes quite a large percentage of the local diet. Cassava processing is an important activity for the women. Cassava is processed into dough to make "banku" or roasted to make "gari".
Processing cassava is long and tedious. This involves peeling the cassava, washing, grating, pressing, and packing the grated dough into polythene sacks which are then weighed with heavy stones to extract the juice.
The inhabitants of the villages have access to cassava grating machines which are usually owned by individuals from the cities and are located within the villages or in the vicinity. The rates are very high and the frequent breakdowns result in great losses for the women since the cassava starts to deteriorate.
The effects of these time-consuming and tedious traditional methods of cassava processing have resulted in a low level of production and reduced incomes for women.
The cassava processing programme covers five villages in the Greater Accra region. The project assisted these associations to gain access to and maintain cassava processing equipment. A revolving fund also exists to purchase cassava and process it all year round. Produce is sold in Accra and Kasao markets.
The region is also a producer of vegetables like pep, tomato, garden eggs, okra and different leafy vegetables. The projects in four villages have increased production by 100 percent by introducing improved seeds, fertilizers, pesticides and proper storage facilities. This has enabled these villages to produce a surplus to sell in the local markets.
The impact of these projects has enabled the programme to be extended to other villages. Seven more village associations have been added since 1994. Apart from providing cash incomes to women in the project, the success of the activities has enabled villages to construct schools, sanitation systems and electrification on a modest level. The benefits of the project now extend to the children of the villages, who can afford school fees and an education.
Another example of the collective strength of women is demonstrated in the "Two-Wings Agroforestry Network" in southwest Uganda. This is a network of 15 women's groups, operating in the Kabale district. The project is attempting to resolve the problem of soil erosion and degradation and the loss of water through high rates of run off, leading to low crop yields. The depleted land could not feed the people of Kabale, nor were there trees to supply their timber and fuelwood needs. Today the groups are using agroforestry technologies. They meet at their nurseries each week to make shades and mats, sow seed, pot seedling and weed seedbeds. Members take turns watering the seedlings twice a day.
At the agroforestry meetings, the women work together on a range of self-help projects in health, literacy, fuel-efficient stoves and organic farming. Over the past three years, the women have generated cash from the sales of seedlings and set up agroforestry demonstration plots with upper storey trees, grevillea on boundaries, and calliandra on contour hedgerows. The women benefit from increased supplies of firewood, fruit, fodder, stakes for climbing beans, indigenous vegetables for market and consumption, medicinal herbs and improved farming methods. They have gained self-confidence, improved their planning and management skills and even learned that they have legal rights. Agroforestry has opened doors to a wide range of development projects.
The project faces problems, largely in the cultural and political arenas. The lack of seed and seedling is the biggest constraint. In rural subsistence farm families, time is a woman's most limited resource. Each of the nine groups invested an average of 162 person-day during one year to produce 6.847 seedlings. Most of this time was spent on potting, transplanting and watering. Time spent getting to and from nurseries was not included, but is nevertheless a major investment. Total labour costs (calculated in time not money, as no payment was involved) comprised about 22 percent of the total recurrent costs in the first year. Tools, equipment, forest soil, seed and other materials amount to 78 percent of total expenditure. The total cost of producing each seedling was US$ 0.05. This does not include ICRAF and AFRENA (Agroforestry Research Networks for Africa) inputs - personnel capital costs and operating expenses. The women's experience and talents for innovation should help reduce costs in coming years.
Initially, the idea was that the women's groups would plant the seedlings they produced in the agroforestry nurseries. However, many women have come to view the nurseries as income sources; they meet stiff market competition from seedlings that are subsidised and sold by the government Forestry Department at half the production cost. Government policies are meant to encourage tree planting and to discourage wasting of seedlings through indifference or neglect, rather than to promote commercial tree nurseries. A compromise solution will be found when the women are able to reduce their own production costs, and if the government reconsiders its pricing policy for seedlings.
Uncontrolled livestock, theft and intentional damage reduce success rates of planted seedlings and have prevented successful agroforestry on scattered fields far from the homestead. Carrying the potted seedlings to these distant fields is in itself a difficult task. Even on fields close to home, grazing livestock have taken their toll of the seedlings. The men own the livestock which destroy seedlings, and they fear that tree planting will restrict grazing areas. Some women’s groups feel that they lack community support for their agroforestry; they have been unable to obtain land for nurseries and theft of seedlings is chronic. Farmers who have planted fruit trees in their fields have lost must of the fruit to neighbourhood children and are discouraged from planting more of these otherwise desirable trees. Daily watering of nursery seedlings is difficult for women who are heavily burdened with household tasks, and who must find time to walk long distances from their homes to the nurseries. During the rainy season, farm families have little time for nursery management or for tree planting, which must be done at this time if agroforestry systems are to be established.
Agroforestry is a new idea to many farmers in the area, who are still doubtful that trees and crops can be integrated. They fear that birds, attracted to the trees, will damage their crops. In cases where husbands have accepted boundary planting, neighbours have uprooted trees.
Men tend to view the planted trees as a threat to their traditional rights of land tenure. This discourages women from planting; they feel they will not benefit from the tree products. In some cases, men have actually uprooted the trees women have planted. The men control most of the land on which women want to raise and plant seedlings. A large tree such as grevillea has great potential for generating cash, supplying as it does poles, firewood and timber. It also determines ownership of the land on which it is planted. Thus, women who plant trees are seen as challenging the men who have always controlled land, trees and cash. Men are traditionally regarded as planners, thinkers and decision-makers, and the women's agroforestry initiatives evoke male resentment and fear that the women will usurp their cultural role.
After three years, it was obvious to the women that if their efforts in agroforestry were to succeed, it would be necessary to involve the men from their communities. In January 1993, the word "women" was dropped from the names of the groups, and "Two-Wings" agroforestry groups were created. It was hoped that the two wings, male and female, would symbolize and bring a gender balance to the groups. Small numbers of men have started to join the groups, and the women's next concern is that they do not take complete control of the "two wings", forcing the women back to their traditionally submissive role.
The ICRAF-AFRENA agroforestry program has triggered not only social change, but many kinds of community development in southwest Uganda. Today 15 groups - with some 700 members - are using agroforestry technologies to improve their land and their lives; more than twice this number have been involved in some way with the project. These groups have begun to spawn new groups outside of the formal programme. Now that men have also been included in the initiatives, the two-wings agroforestry groups are setting their own goals. After that, they will need to find the resources to realize them.
Despite their reputation for inefficiency, cooperative forms of production are still being maintained in Africa. They exist in the poorest rural situations, but have managed to sustain a reasonable standard of living for their members. In recent years they have had to transform themselves to compete more sharply in a competitive environment.
The Kagera Cooperative Union of Tanzania was established in 1984 and now comprises coffee farmers in three villages, producing 300 tons of coffee per year. Small-scale coffee growers in Kagera are organised in villages, based on primary societies and these societies are members of the KCU. The Union transports coffee cherries from the primary societies in the processing factory in Bukoba. After grading, the clean coffee beans are sold at the international coffee auction in Moshi and is transported to the port of Tanga or Dar es Salaam. Primary societies and thus coffee farmers get their final payment for their coffee at the end of the season, when all the coffee is sold. The KCU is also involved in the provision of inputs like fertilizers, insecticides and implements. The area covered by the KCU is responsible for an average of 1.700 tons each year. Internationally the KCU is part of the Max Havelaar Foundation and the Netherlands Free Trade Organisation, who are its buyers.
In general terms, the aims of the union are to transport, process and market coffee, enhance coffee production, defend the interests of coffee growers and improve the incomes of the coffee growers.
The three districts in Kagera have an estimated population of 660,000 people of which a work force of 280,000 are employed in the agricultural sector. About 90,000 households till 14,000 hectares of land and on average they cultivate 0.25 hectares of coffee trees. Most coffee cherries are produced by small-scale farmers.
The aim of providing inputs to the farms has now been scaled down, as private traders are active in this field. The new liberal policy of the Tanzania government is responsible for this development. During the one-party era in Tanzania the union had a very strong, monopolistic and multi-purpose position in the society. KCU had direct links with schools, hospitals and community buildings. This sort of support has now diminished, however, but KCU still owns office and housing blocks, two hotels and a regional soccer stadium.
Before 1991, the government and the ruling party held a firm grip on the functioning of the unions. Their managers were appointed by the party and prices and regulations were established by the government. Since the Cooperative Act was enacted in 1991, the KCU can develop as an independent identity. KCU has also lost its monopoly on coffee marketing, since private competitors have appeared at the coffee buying markets.
In Ghana, the Kuapa Kokoo Ltd was established in 1993. It consists of 15 village societies with a membership of 4.500 cocoa farmers, spread over the three cocoa producing areas of Ashanti, Brong Ahafo and Western. The cooperative was established in response to the government's decision to liberalise the cocoa industry by allowing cocoa buying companies to operate alongside the Produce Buying Company of the Ghana Cocoa Board. The idea was to create a marketing organisation wholly owned by the farmers. The objective was that the gains of the company's operations should also belong to the farmers. The farmers were also prepared to deliver their cocoa on credit, and as a result would receive a premium as this would enable the company to operate without resorting to institutional credit thus keeping interest payments on loans down to a minimum. Additional premiums would also be paid to farmers from international sales conducted by Fair Trade.
The organisation consists of two different institutions. The societies are village-based farmer organisations that collect the cocoa for the company to commercialise. The idea was to create a cooperative farmers' organisation, the Kuapa Kokoo Union, that could give farmers a voice in the cocoa industry and through which the farmers could take direct control of the marketing of their produce, reaping maximum benefits and improving their social and economic living conditions. The societies are organised in a democratic and participatory manner. They are responsible for the collection, bagging, grading, sealing and evacuation for the produce. They also manage the welfare of the members of the society.
The main objective of the union is to ensure a strong capital base for the societies, so that eventually KKL would not need to depend on credits from banks for its operations. KKL would use funds from the union for its operations, returning the majority of the profits to the societies in the form of bonuses.
The KKL works closely with two international partners. SNV-Ghana (from the Netherlands) concentrates in providing training both at village societies and to the KKL staff. This includes the training of the leadership of societies, as well as quality control officers and village based recorders. Support is also given for logistical and financial administration.
TWIN (from England) has provided start-up capital and bank guarantees for working capital. It provided a technical advisor to KKL in Kumasi. TWIN has also assisted in building links with Max Havelaar Foundation, which buys the cocoa in Europe.
Currently there are eight private companies that purchase cocoa from producers and sell it to the Cocoa Marketing Company (part of the Ghana Cocoa Board), which still has the monopoly over external sales and the export of the cocoa harvest. KKL is the only company that is owned by the farmers. The marketing of the cocoa can be a highly risky operation for two reasons. The cocoa is bought by the company on the basis of credit obtained from the banks. These loans have interest rates than can be exorbitant if there are delays.
In addition, the collection of the cocoa harvest from the producers is the responsibility of the marketing company and any delays in delivering to the depots of the CC at the ports reduces the receipts obtained for the cocoa. As a result the company has to increase its borrowing in order to obtain more cocoa, thereby increasing its debt.
In its first season, KKL experienced enormous problems, partly because of the increase in the societies that wish to join. As a result it over extended its credit line from the Cocoa Board. On the other hand it did not have enough experience in transporting the cocoa from the producers to the port depots. Fortunately, TWIN guaranteed the credit to the tune of 100,000 pound sterling. As a result of a super human effort, the cocoa was eventually shipped from the producers in sufficient quantity to begin paying back the debt. By the 1994/95 season, KKL marketed 2.389 tons of cocoa and paid out bonuses of 18 million cedis to its farmers at 500 cedis a bag.
The financial system in sub-Saharan Africa should play a crucial role in the development of the economy. Yet because of the past colonial experience the system remains highly centralised, catering to large businesses and the state. To most Africans, especially women, the system is inaccessible and forbidding. Yet, access to credit and financial training is essential for the first uneasy steps towards economic activity, both in the rural and urban areas. The example of the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh is instructive.
A laudable institution is the Rural Finance Facility in South Africa. It has grown considerably since 1991. The aim is to provide financial services to the rural poor. Its logo is "democratic credit", which is the balancing of formal credit discipline with the process of opening up access to resources for the excluded majority. The aim is to invest in people whose access to financial services is limited only by their own low income. To that end, it has disbursed more than 1.500 loans totaling R 3.5 million. These are more or less divided into home loans, that is to workers borrowing money to buy supplies to improve their homes, and micro-loans, made up of groups of women from rural communities who have started retail businesses or more recently poultry farming. The intention of the Facility is to provide more financial services and not just loans. It has had experience in advising grass roots' organisations in financial management, including the National Union of Mineworkers and the African National Congress, on their agricultural credit policy.
The organisation takes pride in the quality of its staff, especially the loan officers, who are largely women and are becoming highly efficient in their operations. The principles under which they operate include close contact with borrowers, good service, quick decisions, strictly applied affordability rules, not targeting credit, fixed rates and being able to offer sound general financial advice. According to the Facility the demand for loans is enormous and they have just scratched the surface.
European Commission. 1996. Green Paper on Relations Between the European Union and the ACP Countries on the Eve of the 21st Century. Brussels: European Commission.
UNDP. 1994. Human Development Report 1994. New York: UNDP.
Eurostep. 1997. Comment on the Commission’s Green Paper on Relations between the EU and the ACP Countries on the Eve of the 21st Century. Brussels: Eurostep.
Decentralised Cooperation in the Lomé Convention. New Opportunities and Challenges for African NGOs, Harare, January 1994.