On December 10th, 2019, Country representatives and Heads of Agricultural Mechanisation Departments from Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Zambia, Ghana, and Uganda convened in Kampala for a regional Workshop opened by Hon. Joy Kabatsi the State Minister for Animal Industry.

The Regional Workshop was convened by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in collaboration with the African Conservation Tillage Network (ACT) and the Ministry of Agriculture Animal Industry and Fisheries to allow the countries to share experiences in the field of Sustainable Agricultural Mechanization hire services provision.

The regional workshop is part of the actions undertaken by the FAO and ACT following their recently signed Memorandum of Understanding to work together in the implementation of the Sustainable Agricultural Mechanization (SAMA) Framework.

This is part of the operationalization phase of the SAMA framework is intended to contribute to agricultural transformation through mechanisation supported by the African Union Commission (AUC) and the view agricultural mechanization in Africa as an urgent matter and an indispensable pillar for attaining the Zero Hunger vision by 2025, as stated in the Malabo Declaration of 2014, Goal 2 of the Sustainable Development Goals, and Prosperous Africa We Want, as indicated in Agenda 2063.

As highlighted by Hon. Kabatsi, Africa must strive to feed its population and support the development of the region through a competitive agricultural sector, given the high population growth rate of 2.7 % and a regional population expected to reach 1.4 billion by 2025.

“Africa’s Agriculture should mechanize to address the key bottlenecks to our production targets by promoting investments in increasing mechanized farm operations in a sustainable manner, using mechanization to reduce the high post-harvest losses currently estimated at 30% and increase the use of mechanization in adding value to agricultural produce particularly the building of agro-processing capacity,” Hon. Kabatsi said in her remarks.

The Public-Private collaboration

According to Eng. Saidi Mkomwa the Executive Secretary of the African Conservation Tillage Network (ACT), the cornerstone of Sustainable Agricultural Mechanization is the involvement of the private sector especially machinery manufacturers, suppliers and service providers.

“The private sector needs to be brought to the forefront in SAM development and provision, but without neglecting the important role that the public sector and its institutions can also play. Therefore, this new mechanization drive must follow some core principles, it must be built along the entire agricultural value chain and must be private-sector driven, environmentally compatible and climate smart,” Eng. Mkomwa says.

Eng. Mkomwa added that the sub-sector of Mechanisation must also be economically viable and affordable, especially for small-scale farmers who constitute the bulk of African farmers.

Experience sharing for informed collaboration

The country representatives will be touring two key areas of Uganda to assess different aspects of agricultural mechanization and share experiences.

One team will be travelling to the Lukaya Farm and Mandela Millers, while the other tours ZAABTA, the NOKIA Project and the Tractor Operator Training Station at the Mukono Zonal Agricultural Research and Development Institute.

This Article was crossposted from: https://ea-agribusiness.com/regional-mechanisation-workshop-with-special-focus-on-hire-services-underway-in-kampala