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G. Pascal Zachary on Africa’s Farming Boom

A journalist’s photos document signs of change in the sub-Sahara

G. Pascal Zachary

06 Jun 2013

Photo: G. Pascal Zachary

Photo: G. Pascal Zachary

G. Pascal Zachary, the white guy standing between two Masai tribesmen, is a writer, journalist, and professor of practice at Arizona State University. Since 2000, he’s traveled 40 times to sub-Saharan Africa to document the region’s vibrant, rapidly changing society. In “Africa: Continent of Plenty,” Zachary writes about the sub-Sahara’s recent farming boom. Of the traditional Masai garb he’s donned in this photo, he says, “I’m a method journalist—I try to become part of the scene.”'
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Photo: G. Pascal Zachary

One of the forces driving Africa’s agricultural boom is that farming is now viewed as a popular, lucrative pursuit. This billboard went up in the center of Accra, Ghana’s largest city, advertising bank loans for farmers. “This is astonishing,” says Zachary. “You never would have seen such a thing 10 years ago.” Access to credit and capital could lift African agribusiness into a trillion-dollar market by 2030, according to a recent World Bank report.
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Photo: G. Pascal Zachary

A roadside market on the way into Kampala, Uganda’s capital, sells mangoes, pineapples, bananas, tomatoes, peanuts, and other locally grown produce. “These days, there’s a lot of food available near large urban centers,” says Zachary. But not everyone has access to transportation, he adds, “so if somebody is driving by, they might pick up a bunch a stuff, with the idea of offloading it to friends or relatives.” Getting food from places where there’s more of it to places where there’s less remains a struggle.
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Photo: G. Pascal Zachary

A small farm grows cabbages just a few kilometers from the central market in Takoradi, an oil-boom town and port city in Ghana. As the city’s population has burgeoned, more people living on the peripheries have begun cultivating land that would otherwise be idle. Zachary says that specialty vegetables command high prices: “This guy probably thought, ‘I used to just live here, but if I grow cabbages and treat them nicely, they sell for $1 a head.’ ”
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Photo: G. Pascal Zachary

For Ugandan farmer Ken Sakwa, a mobile phone is indispensable. “That phone does everything for him,” says Zachary. Previously, Sakwa only farmed his own land. These days, he’s also a small-scale food broker, buying crops from other local farmers and selling them in the city or wherever they’ll fetch the highest price. The phone lets him quickly negotiate prices and arrange transportation. “There’s no wasted effort,” Zachary says.
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Photo: G. Pascal Zachary

These workers are bundling cut flowers into attractive bouquets that will then be flown from Nairobi to Europe and North America. “Some of the flowers were bound for a Kroger’s grocery store in Cincinnati,” says Zachary. Similar facilities exist to export fresh vegetables like green beans and specialty potatoes, he adds. “They’re already packaged and bar-coded, so after they land they can go right onto the store shelf.”
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Photo: G. Pascal Zachary

A Ugandan sunflower farmer has hired this bicycle’s owner to pedal his sack of seeds a few kilometers to the main road, where a sunflower seed broker has arranged via text message to collect the seeds. Farmers also receive text messages with guidance on planting, weeding, and other growing techniques.
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Photo: G. Pascal Zachary

Although fish farming has taken off in South America and Asia, it’s had a fitful beginning in Africa, says Zachary. “In theory, it ought to work, but in practice the fish die or don’t grow.” While differences in climate or failing to follow instructions may be contributing factors, he says, “most people believe it’s because fish feed and other inputs are expensive, so there’s the temptation to adulterate them.” Here, a trainer from the United States [left] shows a Uganda fish farmer some aquaculture techniques.
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Photo: G. Pascal Zachary

In sub-Saharan Africa, less than 5 percent of farmland is irrigated. Here, farm extension worker Phelire Nhkoma shows off a simple water-storage tank that’s being used to irrigate a vegetable plot in central Malawi. Sophisticated irrigation schemes require government support, which in most parts of Africa is still lacking. So Nkhoma teaches farmers low-cost methods, like carrying buckets of water into the field and spooning the liquid directly onto their plants.
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Photo: G. Pascal Zachary

Shoppers at a market in Lira, Uganda, consider various offerings of rice, most of them imported. “Africa still imports a lot of food, and probably the single biggest food import is rice,” says Zachary. Imported rice tends to be cheap, because rice farmers in Southeast Asia and the United States who receive government subsidies can afford to sell below cost in Africa. To boost local production, Uganda has placed duties on imported rice and encouraged the cultivation of a “dry” variety of rice developed in Sierra Leone.
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Photo: G. Pascal Zachary

The typical farm in the sub-Sahara is small—just a few hectares—and family owned. “You seldom see the big, mechanized farms of the American Midwest,” says Zachary. Many farmers still use a hoe to till the soil; somewhat more advanced but more expensive is the ox plow. Few farmers can afford to keep their own oxen, so they may rent the animals and equipment as needed.
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Photo: G. Pascal Zachary

Cash crops like coffee, cocoa, and tea have seen their global prices soar in recent years, which in general has been good for African growers. So why are these tea pickers so unhappy? “They work for a government-owned tea company in Malawi, and they’re upset because they have not been paid for a month,” says Zachary. “Government [in Africa] still doesn’t work as well as it might.”
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Photo: G. Pascal Zachary

A woman picks cotton in northern Cameroon. “West Africa is one of the largest suppliers of cotton in the world—it’s enormously valuable,” says Zachary. Unlike food crops, cotton can be stored, so none of it is wasted. And with their profits from cotton, African growers can invest in fertilizer, high-quality seeds, and pesticides and branch out into other crops.
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Photo: G. Pascal Zachary

“This Ugandan farmer is stacking hay in his cart, which he hopes to sell in town, but he’s doing it all wrong,” says Zachary. “That’s why his wife is laughing.” It’s a comical scene, but it speaks to a larger issue: Many African farmers have very little knowledge of modern farming techniques. “The lack of education can be startling,” Zachary says. “I’ve met farmers who didn’t know to plant their seeds in rows or to water their plants. So there’s a tremendous upside to teaching farmers.”
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Photo: G. Pascal Zachary

These Ugandan children are playing at being farmers, says Zachary. “But it goes to show, you can get pretty good with a hoe if you start when you’re a kid.” Will Africa’s recent farming boom endure? It’s an open question, Zachary says, but for the first time in a long time, there’s good reason for optimism.
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type:slideshow africa agriculture profiles

G. Pascal Zachary

is the author of Bush’s biography, Endless Frontier (1997), and the editor of The Essential Writings of Vannevar Bush (Columbia University Press, 2022). He has taught at Stanford University, UC-Berkeley and Arizona State University.

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