The President's Message.

Dear Members,

At a workshop in Johannesburg recently I told delegates that wherever I go on our continent and talk to people who are actually doing agriculture in Africa - the farmers, the bankers, the processors, the transporters, the retailers, etc.- I get a real sense of excitement. Africa's agriculture is on the move, and it is going to reach a tipping point quite soon. Unfortunately, whenever I talk to people who talk about agriculture in Africa - the pundits, the donors, the academics, the experts, etc. - it is still the old "doom and gloom" scenarios. My message to the delegates was to stop talking and start doing, and this is my message to the members of our Association as well.

There are many stories to tell. South Africa, for example, has lost African markets for its surplus maize and is frantically looking for other destinations because many southern and eastern African countries have become self-sufficient and even net exporters over the past few years. While Africa's food imports are increasing, so is its production and exports. The reality is that demand has increased so rapidly that Africa's farmers just can't keep up. But this will change as the heavy expenditure in infrastructure and in regional integration, and the rise and rise of more sophisticated retail outlets kicks in. After all, there is a reason why South Africa sells more bottles of wine in Kenya and Nigeria than in China and Japan!.

The ongoing drought in different parts of Africa threatens food security, fuelling spread of riots over food price increases. During this year's budget, the Agriculture sector in Kenya, which employs 75 per cent of the country's labour force and constitutes a quarter of its GDP, received its highest allocation of funding at $1.2 billion. While in Uganda the Agriculture sector, received $12.6 million.

Your Association has hosted three successful conferences since its establishment. Last year in Cape Town was the biggest so far, but we are convinced that 2013 in Tunisia will be even bigger. We are now almost in a position to wrap up the finances of last year's conference, and apologise to everyone who has been inconvenienced by the unsatisfactory state of our financing arrangements. Rest assured that these are getting the most urgent attention. We are also slowly starting to get the wheels rolling on the next conference. We urge members to start thinking about the kinds of papers that they want to present there, and to get the ball rolling on some innovative and insightful work!.

Nick Vink,
President.