African Leafy Vegetables (ALV): Experience in promoting research and improving marketing channels in Kenya. Lessons to Mozambique

By Maloa, Jeremias Clemente

2010-10-19

During the seminar presented by Morimoto Y. and Patrick Maundu[1], at the Graduate School of International Development, very interesting issues regarding promotion of ALV to become valued crops found in groceries and supermarkets were raised. One of the most important issues in this work was the identification of diversity of wild plants as food. It was estimated that there are 850 species of indigenous food plants in Kenya, and vegetables constitute the second largest group in diversity. There are 400 species of fruits (about 50%) and 210 leafy vegetables species.

This identification itself is a rich source of research, as it gives an overview of the ability of the country to supply a diversified diet. I tried to look for the same source of data for Mozambique, unfortunately I couldn’t identify any (I hope that Mozambique has a similar study somewhere, otherwise this is an important benchmarking opportunity).

For those who know about Sub-Saharan Africa, it is no doubt that vegetables are an important source of relish or side dish for starchy foods, like Ugali or sima or xima or uphwa (according to the region). However, due to the colonial pre-concepts, and traditional vegetables having been often associated with poverty and backwardness, studies and promotion has been neglected. Until recently, in many African countries, eating meat is a symbol of wealth or well-being and gaining weight is a symbol of prominence, despite all the health risks associated with the population’s unbalanced diet habits.



It’s important to notice that promotion of traditional vegetables in Africa is a means of improving the nutritional level; a use of minimal (inexpensive) inputs (especially pesticides); a use of available local knowledge and local conditions; and also a means of income.　Japan offers a good example on the importance of promotion of local foods (especially vegetables). In primary schools students have lunch provided by the local government and produced by local farmers. They can see the local farmers’ pictures on the daily menu and have lessons about the nutritious value of the products as well as doing field work. As a result, the cuisine in Japan is very healthy, people are aware about the importance of vegetables, and the food industry gains from this diversified knowledge. In Africa, Mozambique in particular, it is still difficult to find restaurants and hotels that specialize in local foods. In order to enjoy a delicious traditional vegetable meal, a person needs to travel to rural areas or search for someone with skills to do it, often a grandmother or an “old school” mother as this knowledge is not being properly transferred to the new generations.

Kenya is experiencing a project called ALV to revert this status quo. Fifteen institutions led by Bioversity International (http://www.bioversityinternational.org/) had to identify key constrains in production, marketing and consumption, and priority species for development, commercialization and use. The phase 2 of the project (2001-2006) made a joint plant exploration to collect germplasm[2], developed high quality lines through selection (using farmers’ fields and stations), seeds distributions, training farmers (agronomy, farming as a business, seed production), market linkages, recipe documentation and dissemination, promotion and awareness campaigns through food fairs, and educational material and lectures.

In this paper, I am concerned, not on the strategies used by ALV Project and the results (which are not yet concluded), but on how a similar vision could increase the value and productivity of traditional vegetables in Mozambique, where there is lack of knowledge about their potentiality. According to the link below, the Mozambican Government, through the Ministry of the Agriculture, reached an agreement with the Commercial Bank of Investments (BCI) to assure a line of credit of seven billions of Meticais (about US$280,000) to support the re-launch of the production of vegetables, particularly the tomato, in the districts of Chókwè, and other adjacent ones (http://www.portaldogoverno.gov.mz/noticias/news_folder_politica/junho2006/news_018_p_06_06/). Note that this action comes in the sequence of a viral disease that affected the tomato production in the districts of Chókwè, in the province of Gaza, and others, in the province of Maputo, where the farmers lost between 70 to 100 percent of their produce.

Of course we shouldn’t expect the government to interfere on the entire sectors of production in Mozambique (a liberalized country), but agriculture requires a special attention not only during crises, but most importantly as a sustainable development strategy of all nations. There is no developed country in the world that left agriculture as a sector to be ruled by market forces[3]. Why do African Governments should abandon this sector?

From the Kenyan initiative, I found out that it is about time Africa regained bonds with their diet roots and promoted their traditional crops. It’s important to have an inward strategy before thinking on further markets. A country like Mozambique with more than 800,000 square kilometers of land and an immense water source shouldn’t rely on neighbor countries to provide agricultural goods. It is not an easy task due to international food prices, free competition and level of production. In an open economy, an increase in the national food prices due to high cost of production or inefficient technology makes national food less competitive and relatively more expensive to foreign produced food. Therefore, and because of the exchange rate, national food become more expensive for foreigners to buy and international food become relatively cheaper for nationals to buy. According to Dornbusch et al. (2008:509), an increase in national price level thus shifts demand away from national goods toward imports and also reduces exports.

Despite those and other challenges, a special aggressiveness and publicly known strategies should be initiated, from the base line of identifications through researches on potentialities, linkages, marketing, tourism, sales and the view of agriculture as a 6^th industry. A clear view of agriculture, from micro perspective to macro, from traditional crops to the known cash crops, might help to tackle food security issues and bring about sustainable development.

References:

-     http://www.bioversityinternational.org/
-     http://www.portaldogoverno.gov.mz/noticias/news_folder_politica/junho2006/news_018_p_06_06/

-     http://europa.eu/pol/agr/index_en.htm

-     http://www.ena.lu/

-       Dornbusch, Rudi; Stanley Fischer and Richard Startz (2008); Macroeconomics; Tenth Edition; McGraw-Hill/Irwin; New York.

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[1] Patrick Maundu helped on the contents but was physically absent.

[2] A germplasm is a collection of genetic resources for an organism. For plants, the germplasm may be stored as a seed collection or, for trees, in a nursery.

[3] USA, UK and Japan offer good case studies on this matter, where the sector was heftily subsidized. France, the European Union (EU) leading agricultural producer is also the main country in the EU that is against the reduction of subsidies – for details about EU Agriculture Policy see http://europa.eu/pol/agr/index_en.htm.  And most importantly, see the Common Agricultural Policy – CAP, a system of European Union agricultural subsidies and programs http://www.ena.lu/.