Africa Economic Brief: Africa's Growth Trajectory: Lessons From History

Africa Economic Brief
2018 l VOLUME 9 l ISSUE 4

VICE PRESIDENCY FOR ECONOMIC GOVERNANCE
AND KOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT
Africa’s Growth Trajectory: Lessons from History

Emmanuel Akyeampong1
C olonial economies were primarily based on agriculture,

mining and commerce. Cash crops and minerals were
exported with very little value added. Though Ghana emerged
there were only three college graduates in the Congo on
independence. In my interview with Jakaya Kiwete, former
President of Tanzania, he mentioned that on Tanzania’s
as the world’s leading producing of cocoa in 1911 and has independence in 1961 the country had only two engineers
been for centuries an important exporter of gold (hence its and three medical doctors. The first generation of Africa’s
former name, the Gold Coast), it was not until 1963 that independent leaders considered illiteracy, poverty and disease
Kwame Nkrumah established a cocoa-processing factory in the major stumbling blocks to a brighter future for their
Tema and a gold refinery in Tarkwa. Outside South Africa, countries and a better standard of living. The late colonial
much of Africa lacked a significant industrial base. The state was a developmental state, as the colonial governments
colonial economy was more interested in raw materials. I have moved to expand colonial economies to assist in
found the French Colonial Minister Albert Sarraut’s (1872– reconstructing France and Britain after the devastation of
1962) description of the colonial economy enlightening and World War II. Agricultural reforms, plans for hydro-electric
discouraging. dams, the beginnings of import-substitution industries and
expansion in social infrastructure have led to this period being
Economically, a colonial possession means to the home called the “second colonial occupation” for its renewed
country simply a privileged market from where it will draw the intrusiveness into the lives of the colonized. African economic
raw materials it needs, dumping its own manufactures in prosperity based on high world prices for Africa’s exports
return. Economic policy is reduced to rudimentary procedures underpinned a spirit of optimism. This was the era of
of gathering crops and bartering them. Colonial infrastructure development economics and modernization theory, and
was sparse, and railways connected mineral-rich zones to industrialization was seen as the path to economic growth.
ports. By the 1920s, most of the main railway lines in colonial African nationalist governments adopted the development
Africa had been completed. Sierra Leone had a mere 84 miles plans of late colonial governments before developing their
of railway, constructed to link Hill Station intended to be a own economic policies.
malaria-free, segregated settlement for white expatriates to
Freetown. The socio-economic needs at independence were, In 1951, Kwame Nkrumah’s Convention People’s Party won
in a word, huge. the first general elections in Ghana, and the internal
government of the colony was entrusted to the nationalist
Independent African Governments government under British supervision. Nkrumah approached
and Development Visions William Arthur Lewis a West Indian economist at the University
of Manchester to author a plan for industrializing the Gold
In Basil Davidson’s documentary on the rise of African Coast. The report was published in 1953 under the title
nationalism (The Africans), one of the first cabinet ministers in Industrialization and the Gold Coast Economy. Though Lewis
Patrice Lumumba’s government informed Basil Davidson that in his earlier publications had advocated industrialization as
1 Professor of History and of African and African American Studies, Harvard University; Oppenheimer Faculty Director, Harvard University Center for African
Studies
Disclaimer: The findings of this Brief reflect the opinions of the authors and not those of the African Development Bank,its Board of Directors or the
countries they represent.
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AEB 2018 l VOLUME 9 l ISSUE 4 l VICE PRESIDENCY FOR ECONOMIC GOVERNANCE AND KOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT
the development strategy for the Caribbean and Asia with spurt, as the manufacture of basic goods in China and other
their large populations, he advised Ghana to rather focus on Asian countries gets redirected to Africa. Technology and
agriculture, particularly food production, as its priority. In terms innovation hubs have sprung up in Nairobi Johannesburg,
of manufacturing, he recommended a small range of light Lagos, Accra and other African cities with global technology
import-substitution industries to be developed by foreign companies such as IBM, Google and Microsoft playing
investors and advised Nkrumah’s government to put its instrumental roles. In science and engineering, computer
resources into agriculture. This the Nkrumah government science with its lower overheads beckons as an attractive point
found unpalatable in its determination to make Ghana a of entry for Africans. Developing competence in software in
showcase for the world as the first black African country to computer science has become attainable and coding is being
gain independence. taught across the continent.
Lewis’s advice, for me, is crucial advice that African Africa’s population is set to double by 2050, exceeding 2
governments need to return to. Africa supposedly has the billion. The population is expected to triple in countries such
largest unfarmed arable land in the world. Yet the continent is as Niger, which has one of the highest fertility rates in the
unable to feed itself. In a recent interview with Dr. Kwabena world. Whereas other continents have ageing populations,
Duffuor, a former Governor of the Bank of Ghana (1997– Africa’s by 2050 will have a demographic dividend, in which
2001) and former Minister for Finance and Economic Planning young, working age people predominate, far outnumbering
(2009–2012), he mused that farming is the only occupation unproductive dependents, whether young or old.This half-
that remains largely unprofessionalized in Africa: people farm century mark is also when most of Africa’s known mineral and
out of necessity, many leaving for the cities at the first oil resources will be exhausted. The transition from economies
opportunity. The outcome is predictable, as Deborah that produce raw materials to knowledge economies that add
Brautigam so succinctly captures it: “With so many farmers value to Africa’s products must include agriculture and
focused on survival and not on the market, Africa remains agribusiness, and our youthful bulge must constitute an asset.
dependent on imported food”. The availability of “unused”
land in Africa has allegedly become an attraction to foreign I had a recent conversation with representatives from a West
investors. African country that had come to the Massachusetts Institute
of Technology for discussions about leveraging technology to
solve youth unemployment. I asked if agriculture had a place
in their plans. Not really. Africa has some of the fastest
With so many farmers growing cities in the world. Lagos’s annual rate of growth is
focused on survival and not mind-boggling. We have educated, unemployed youth
pressing into cities. This is a generation that has a penchant
on the market, Africa remains
for technology. We have the most unused arable land in the
dependent on imported food. world. Yet our continent is “the only region where the number
of hungry people is on the rise”.
Somehow, agriculture, technology and youth must figure in

Howard French’s China’s Second Continent notes increasing the developmental plans of Africa’s governments. I believe it
alienation of land to Chinese migrants in Africa, based on is time to professionalize agriculture in Africa by leveraging
numerous interviews he conducted in several African technology and making agriculture attractive and market-
countries. Allegations of large-scale alienation of African land centered. We must improve infrastructure in the countryside.
to Chinese interests are firmly refuted in Brautigam’s Will Africa In 2015, President Obama launched the Power Africa
Feed China? But the problem remains of a continent unable programme and passed the U.S.
to feed itself. The result is the absence of an agrarian
revolution that expands the market, constitutes the foundation
for manufacturing (beginning with agribusiness) and releases I believe it is time to professionalize
labour to work in manufacturing. Leapfrogging through
technology has become an important preoccupation in Africa. agriculture in Africa by leveraging
Through mobile telephony we leapfrogged over landlines. technology and making agriculture
Non-grid power solutions like solar could release us from or attractive and market-centered.
complement hydroelectricity. Historically, the path to
economic prosperity is through industry. Africa cannot leap-
frog manufacturing and industry. But we must first build a
strong foundation through improved agriculture. Electricity Act, which seeks to bring power to an additional
50 million urban and rural Africans by 2020. Solar and off-grid
Africa in the 21st Century: The “African Century”? solutions feature prominently in this endeavor. Increasing per
capita electricity has a 90% correlation with increasing per
As the Asian economies move on to become knowledge capita GDP. Adding value to agriculture is tied to both
economies, and China has emerged as the second largest electricity access and commercial energy use, and agro-
economy in the world poised to overtake the United States, processing and cottage industries emerge as electricity is
Africa has been posited as the next continent due for a growth extended to unserved areas.
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AEB 2018 l VOLUME 9 l ISSUE 4 l VICE PRESIDENCY FOR ECONOMIC GOVERNANCE AND KOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT
China, as Africa’s largest trade partner and lender, is both an Less attention had been given to China’s “agro-technology
opportunity and a challenge, as several scholarly works have demonstration centers” and the potential role that these could
underlined. China leads the world in constructing play in an agrarian revolution in Africa. Brautigam points to
hydroelectric dams, and in 2015 Chinese companies were how these are built in Africa on build operate- transfer
financing and constructing hydroelectric dams in 22 African schemes, built and operated with Chinese subsidies for three
countries. This is at a time when climate change and the years and then transferred to African governments. These
impact of river damming on the environment have could represent an important resource where technology and
encouraged a shift to renewable energy sources such as solar agriculture can be brought together, strengthening the weak
and wind. China is also one of the world’s leading producers agricultural extension services that exist in most African
of solar panels. Instructively, then, China plays a potential role countries. Not only would stronger agricultural productivity
in state-centered visions of development that privilege large enable African countries to feed themselves, it would expand
projects like hydroelectric dams, and community-centered food markets and regional food security, provide a base for
visions of development that privilege solar and off-grid agro-processing and constitute a solid foundation for
solutions to energy. manufacturing. In short, the African Development Bank’s High
Five Agenda underscores how Africa’s critical economic
There has been much talk in Africa about emulating China’s needs have not changed, despite half a century of
“special economic zones” to create hubs of manufacturing. independence.
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Africa Economic Brief

2018 l VOLUME 9 l ISSUE 4

Africa’s Growth Trajectory: Lessons from History

C olonial economies were primarily based on agriculture,

Somehow, agriculture, technology and youth must figure in

DESIGN & LAYOUT AfDB PCER

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