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Africa’s agriculture is in a sore state – Prof Lumumba

According to him, Africa cannot not address its economic woes if citizens refuse to trade in the continent.

Professor P.L.O Lumumba

According to a Pan-Africanist and law Professor, Professor P.L.O Lumumba, Africa’s agricultural sector has suffered a terrible deficiency.

This, he says, has resulted from the decision by the citizenry not to patronize home grown foods as they are attracted to this not made in Africa.

Prof Lumumba while speaking at the PAV Ansah Memorial Lecture in Accra on Friday under the theme: "Good governance, whither Africa?” noted that Africa cannot not address its economic woes if citizens refuse to trade in the continent.

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“I remember so very well that when we attained independence, one thing that we said we must do is to ostracise the ghost of colonialism, to demonstrate that we could do all things. And we started in all sectors of the economy talking about ‘Africanisation’… so we started with our agriculture saying that Africa must feed ourselves, that Africa must not import food from Europe and America, that here in West Africa, when we produce cocoa, you must not export raw cocoa; you must add value, that you lovers of jollof rice must consume jollof rice that is produced here in Ghana. So we went into agriculture,” he said.

“We devoted a good percentage of our gross domestic product into agriculture but as I speak to you now, African agriculture is in a sore state. Africa produces what it does not consume and consume what it does not produce,” the Director at the Kenya School of Law said.

Professor Lumumba indicated that Africans have lost faith in themselves. According to him, it was high time Africans asked critical questions as to what has led to that and revert in order to develop.

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