Africa’s challenges are well documented and widely discussed, yet optimism about its potential continues to bubble up from industry, governments, and increasingly non-governmental organizations (NGOs). In the past decade, these NGOs are moving the needle on some of Africa’s most critical issues, including infrastructure, trade harmonization and agriculture.
Improving distribution is instrumental to the continent’s ability to nurture industry, stabilize borders and facilitate better trade policies. In East Africa, a precarious and inefficient port system is the first barrier to trade in the region. The instability surrounding ports in Sudan, Somalia and Eritrea often pushes imports to the region through Djibouti, Ethiopia; Mombasa, Kenya; and Dar el Salaam in Tanzania. Because of their relative stability, these ports are often inundated with heavy and unpredictable volumes, resulting in congestion and the subsequent inefficiencies for imports and exports alike.
Transportation on land is perhaps a larger frustration. Lacking a true freeway system from country to country, piracy is incubated to crisis levels along its myriad rural routes. The overwhelming majority of Ethiopia’s imports and exports move along the Addis Ababa-Djibouti corridor, a 925 kilometer trek that typically takes three to four days.
根据东非商业委员会 2008 年的一项调查，在港口和内陆城市之间行驶的卡车司机将遇到数十个需要付款和贿赂才能通过的称重站、检查站和路障。每年约有 $800 万以不可预见的交通费支付给警察和投机分子。非政府组织 TradeMark East Africa 2 月份的一份报告称，约 75% 的出口价值可能因运输成本而损失，这比发达国家享有的运输成本高出 70%。
更令人不安的可能是这些停靠站可能占用每趟行程 12 个小时的估计时间。对于农业而言，考虑到缺乏用于易腐烂农产品和园艺出口的制冷基础设施，这些延误可能是至关重要的。
改善基础设施
However, conditions are improving, drastically in many areas. The roads themselves have been a focus for investment and prioritized by many as a pathway to better stability, economic growth and prosperity for the region. The region’s major transcontinental routes are the Logos-Mombasa corridor, which runs east-west through Kenya and Uganda, and the Cairo-Gaborone corridor, which runs north and south like a backbone through East Africa. Improvements are currently underway to improve these roads, which are not entirely paved throughout the region and plagued with broken asphalt in many parts that are.
广为宣传的 Thika-Nairobi 公路升级改造（$360 亿）是一个重要的例子，说明如何开发更好的基础设施来鼓励商业和贸易。这条公路是通往肯尼亚北部以及邻国埃塞俄比亚和索马里的门户，也是横贯非洲高速公路的重要路段。
肯尼亚北部港口城市拉穆的一个耗资数十亿美元的项目正在进行中，该项目的大部分资金由中国政府提供，以促进贸易。东非共同体（东亚交流会), a key trading bloc, agreed in March to funnel $4.1 billion into the region’s highways. The Northern and Central corridors, which run from Mombasa and Dar es Salaam, respectively, anchor trade for the region as well as international trade.
在马拉维，最近政府针对改善道路基础设施的举措以及私营部门参与电信业已开始推动私人投资。 2011 年 1 月批准的千年挑战公司 (MCC) 契约承诺显着改善电力供应；电力部门的谈判也一直在与世界银行进行。
这些投资非常重要，不仅因为它们是至关重要的，而且因为它们表明构成 EAC 的国家之间的合作和同质性不断增强：坦桑尼亚、肯尼亚、乌干达、马拉维、卢旺达和布隆迪。它们还代表该地区承认区域稳定作为国际贸易和与非洲联盟其他成员协调一致的驱动力的重要性，包括 东南非共同市场 （东部和南部非洲共同市场），EAC 于 2008 年正式加入。
关于农业
这些改进是促进更好的农业贸易的关键，无论是投入进入该地区还是大宗商品运回。目前，有 18 个项目正在进行中，包括由国家政府、区域贸易集团和一些非政府组织投资组织的能源、健康和农业计划。这些改善也吸引了私人投资进入该地区，因为由于人口增长，随着稳定性的提高和对食品的需求增加，企业更有可能向该地区投入资金。
Not only is the population expanding, but the lion’s share of workers depend on agriculture for their livelihood. Ironically, despite the sheer number of farm workers, the region’s food security is as precarious as anywhere in the world because it is so dependent on weather patterns. The solution is to optimize the yields on the region’s arable land by bringing small shareholder farmers better technologies.
In the same ways NGOs are stepping in to finance the region’s troubled infrastructure, a surge of investment is making its way into agriculture as well. Plagued with insufficient government funding for agriculture for decades, NGOs are paving the way for more regular investment from governments and private industry alike.
值得注意的是，非洲绿色革命联盟 (阿格拉)，由前联合国秘书长科菲·安南领导，正在制定促进农业投入品跨境分配的计划。该组织专注于四个关键领域：种子、土壤肥力、农业企业的市场准入以及让农民获得最佳技术和融资的政策改革。
• Africa: About the Region
“Kenya has one of the highest uses of crop inputs in the region,” Dr. Augustine Langyintuo, policy officer for AGRA, told FCI at his office in Nairobi. “But even if you have good soils, the right crops and good technologies, sustainable agriculture will not succeed without policy that is conducive to that goal.”
AGRA’s reputation for coalition building makes it a lightning rod for intergovernmental discussion on furthering agriculture infrastructure, which ranges from roads and refrigeration to seed and crop inputs. The organization will play a key role at the FCI Trade Summit’s Policy Roundtable on May 16 in Nairobi.
AGRA，其董事会成员包括 比尔及梅琳达·盖茨基金会 和 洛克菲勒基金会, 代表了一个新兴的非政府组织派别，他们专门使用私人资金来实施变革。该投资的一部分通过一个农业经销商网络运行，该网络正在帮助管理 CNFA，专门通过私人投资开发价值链。去年，超过 6,000 家 CNFA 认证的农产品经销商在非洲覆盖了超过 300 万小股东农民。
CNFA 也由比尔和梅琳达盖茨基金会资助，主要致力于企业发展，以创建可持续的农业企业，以推动更好的粮食安全并鼓励更多私人投资农业。它致力于为农民更好地分配农业技术，从而创造更高的产量和更高的农场收入。 CNFA 还将参加在内罗毕举行的 FCI 贸易峰会计划。
非营利性 国际金融发展中心 还专注于东非的价值链。它在该地区创造更好生育力的工作是分销最佳实践的模板，其扩展农业交易网络计划正在扩大其重点，以分销作物保护产品和种子。
与 AGRA 和 CNFA 一样，IFDC 推动农业技术和最佳实践的采用，以创造更好的农业业务和农场收入，其新举措通过向农民提供来自各个区域农产品经销商的价格报告，消除他们在采购时的猜测。 AMISTA 改善了东非市场和技术信息的获取渠道，是一个记录作物投入品价格的网站，包括种子、肥料和作物保护产品。它每月收集有关销售的关键投入的数据，以便农民对从当地经销商处购买产品充满信心。该计划背后的目标是提高采购链的透明度和信心，并最终让小股东更好地采用这些技术。
“There is an information gap at the farm level, and farmers will not use the appropriate inputs without the knowledge and information necessary to make good purchasing decisions,” says Philip Karuri, project coordinator for IFDC’s Extending Agro Dealer Networks Program. “AMISTA creates an information system for input management and price information that allows farmers to create linkages with the value chain, which ultimately helps the entire system.”
AMISTA 数据中心由 IFDC 代表 COMESA 和 EAC 管理，提供关键投入的国际、区域和本地价格，以及生产统计、贸易统计和农业经销商、进口商、出口商和服务提供商的名录。 IFDC 还将在内罗毕与贸易峰会代表分享其专业知识。
下一步是什么
在观察东非时，很明显，行业必须依赖那些正在影响变革的组织，以大举进军进出口的分销和市场准入。前景是多样化的、分散的，并且由一连串的股东优先考虑。与其他新兴经济体一样，审查和选择合适的分销合作伙伴最终将促进成功。
非洲也有自己的要求：打算从该地区获利的企业必须展示对该地区的诚意投资，以及为价值链和农民创造更好选择的资本和真正热情。该地区需要有关产品、农学和可持续性的教育。愿意提供这种智力和社会投资的企业将最终获得市场份额。