Prof. Henry Bwisa from the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology has called for an overhaul of the funding structure of agriculture across Africa. According to the professor, the sector had sufficient funding but the model adapted to spread the money is wrong and does not promote growth.
“The mode of funding is not appropriate, value chain financing needs to be planned well by concentrating money in one value chain,” Prof. Bwisa said during an agribusiness and incubation youth camp in Kampala over the weekend. He explained that money should not be scattered to every chain from production to the finished product but should be concentrated in one successful segment of the chain.
“Then the people in the successful chain then support the subsequent chains because they need the lower chains to complete the value chain,” Prof. Bwisa noted.
Prof. Bwisa challenged incubator projects, among them - AfriBanana who are extracting different high-value products from the banana plant - to come up with products that are specific and can be supported by financial institutions.
“This is key because financial institutions are not willing to put their money in incubatees,” Prof. Bwisa noted.
The team of researchers agreed that commercialisation of agriculture through use of technology was still key as opposed to trading at production level.
The AfriBanana project is currently exporting five tonnes of processed agriculture products to two U.S. states every month.
The Chief Executive of AfriBanana, Mr Kimani Muturi, said from the crop, they are making wine, juices, charcoal brickets, animal feeds, vinegar, bags and all the products are patented. They have also started collaboration with the Finnish government to make car interiors from bananas through incubation.
“We are using the entire banana plant. So far 52 businesses have been supported and close to 300 students through internship whereas 1,500 jobs have been created in the value chain,” Mr Muturi said.
Source: graphic.com.gh
