“Africa’s agricultural development promises much more than food security” – Dr. Jimmy Smith, Director General of the International Livestock Research Institute
October 11, 2016 12:00 PM – October 11, 2016 1:30 PM
Balloom, Alice Campbell Alumni Center
International Food Security at Illinois (IFSI) and The ACES Office of International Programs are honored to announce the Fall 2016 International Food Security at Illinois Distinguished Lecture presented by Dr. Jimmy Smith, Director General of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI).
“Africa’s agricultural development promises much more than food security”
A preview of his lecture:
In this lecture I present the case that agricultural development in Africa must and can do much more than produce more food. It must and can also accelerate broad growth and inclusive development, widening job opportunities and strengthening markets in rural as well as urban areas, which can help address other challenges, such as current and future refugee crises.
There is much discussion about how the world will feed itself by the time global population stabilizes at over 10 billion people in the 2050s. By that time, about 60% more food will be needed than is produced now, and some 75% of that increase will have to come from productivity increases since the agricultural land frontier (at least outside of Africa) has largely been already put to use, and much of it has also reached its ecological limits.
Nowhere is the food security concern more pressing than on the continent of Africa where agricultural growth must, among other things, meet the food and nutritional security needs of its swiftly growing population—now 1.2 billion and estimated to reach 2.4 billion by 2050. In addition, that agricultural growth must be competitive enough to slow the continent’s food import bill, which now stands at US$35 billion. This expenditure, which has high opportunity costs and subverts investments in areas where Africa has little comparative advantage—could reach US$110 billion by 2030 if present trends continue. Even though Africa is rapidly urbanizing, there are not enough jobs in the cities to accommodate the continent’s youth bulge—200 million currently between 15 and 24 years of age, a group that also makes up 60% of the continent’s unemployed. Although agriculture, particularly animal agriculture, and its expansive supply chains are looked upon as areas with highest potential to employ a large proportion of these young people, right now the average age of the African farmer is over 60 years. If we fail to employ more young Africans, the refugee and related crises are likely only to accelerate. Africa’s agricultural challenges must—and can—be turned into sustainable development opportunities. African governments and the international donor community must work together to make sustainable livestock development and efficient agricultural intensification top priorities, vastly ramping up use of agricultural inputs and modern biotechnologies to do so.
My wish is that the University of Illinois’ longstanding and distinguished agricultural research, training and partnerships, of which I am a grateful beneficiary, were put to even greater use for Africa’s development, particularly that of its young people, who are hungry for jobs and livelihoods as well as food, and on whose ambitions the future of much, within and beyond Africa, depends.
Bio for Jimmy Smith:
Dr. Smith, a Canadian, assumed the position of director general of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) in October of 2011. Smith is a graduate of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he completed a PhD in animal sciences.
Before joining ILRI, Smith worked for the World Bank, in Washington, DC, where he led the Bank’s Global Livestock Portfolio. Before joining the World Bank, he held senior positions at the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA). Still earlier in his career, Smith worked at ILRI and its predecessor, the International Livestock Centre for Africa (ILCA), where he served as the institute’s regional representative for West Africa and subsequently managed the ILRI-led System-wide Livestock Programme of the CGIAR, an association of 10 CGIAR centres working at the crop-livestock interface. Before his decade of work at ILCA/ILRI, Smith held senior positions in the Caribbean Agricultural Research and Development Institute (CARDI).
Dr. Smith is widely published, with more than 100 publications, including papers in refereed journals, book chapters, policy papers and edited proceedings.