CERTAIN elements of what is known as government efficiency will likely emerge in the coming or years as different sections of development supervision focus on the more urgent issues, in contrast to broad policy and strategic issues.

When the latter aspects are being taken up, there are themes that one expects to hear about as well as specific areas of emphasis, while a singular focus on doing business or efficiency per se doesn’t have much room for auxiliaries.

The recent past, specifically before early last year and more so after the turn of the year, had plenty of emphasis on outreach – that is, not leaving anyone outside. The focus now is on viability and effectiveness.

When one looks at what is known as climate research and then an appeal is made that researchers need to ensure that climate research delivers practical benefits to communities, with scientific evidence directly informing environment plans, it is clear the mindset is fairly traditional.

We are referring to annual research progress reviews under the climate change research programme hosted at the Tanzania Commission for Science and Technology (Costech).

When that sort of gathering involves senior government officials, researchers, development partners and media representatives, it is evident that the focus is on the wider population. When a meeting is directed at the business side of issues, a section of the usual participants are skipped.

So there are parallel ideas of development management or economic administration to be more accurate, the old pattern reflecting the multilateral system and its focus on not leaving anyone behind.

It was therefore anchored in structured bilateral and multilateral support, where a supportive element was embedded and now available only in a reciprocal fashion as a key partner denounced these arrangements.

This shift is also being noticed here at home, as the government has moved to uplift the role of investment coordination with regulatory and other implementation agencies.

The idea is to remove a layer of planners working overnight to see if the business part reflects what is stated in the plan. The view now is that the business part is cardinal.

That is why a range of analysts or opinion makers, not to speak of inclusion activists, could start seeing the situation as less hospitable.

The explanation will be that a wide range of issues will now depend on the market’s take-up of this or that product, just like policy frameworks need to attract investors.

Once things are there, with public agencies tasked with facilitating that investment, such auxiliary needs will be placed under this onus of investment.

An example could be that special zones will stand as regulators with issues of environment, to the extent that they can be redesigned within a time and cost framework of the project, done right away.

Waiting for an alternative administrator or some other regulatory agency to give its word after initial approval is the sort of hindrance to be removed in the process.

Climate researchers will thus naturally have to direct their efforts at new products and services, see how an item can be applied in some dry land, flooded area, tree crop or other, to cut costs and accordingly build resilience.

Hurdles need to be cleared at Africa fertiliser, agro-productivity conclave

AS experts gather in Dar es Salaam for an international conference with diverse stakeholders on issues chiefly relating to fertiliser trade, it was evident that a number of things had changed since earlier meetings on similar issues also held in our commercial capital.

The wider atmosphere in which discussions will be taking place is by no means the same as applied earlier, what with the formulation of agenda and the presentation of background analyses appearing to be on a systematically different convergence from what was heard earlier.

As could be expected,  various multilateral themes are absent, with the agenda drawn up to reflect the proper business – namely, heightened fertiliser use meant to uplift farm sector productivity in African countries.

There appeared to be formalistic government presence – and that was all right – as it is a business to business sort of environment geared also at taking up logistic and policy issues in view of strengthening fertiliser markets and promoting sustainable agriculture.

The main local host is the Tanzania Fertiliser Regulatory Authority (TFRA) while the convenor is Argus Fertiliser, the latter credited with having developed a tradition for holding an Africa annual conference determined to track progress singularly in the fertiliser sub-sector.

The focus has chiefly been on long-term strategies meant to enhance fertiliser availability and agricultural productivity, as Africa uses a trifle of what agro-sector activity uses in a year – significantly less fertiliser than Europe – while crop needs are similar.

It is authoritatively reported that the year 2020 saw sub-Saharan Africa using less than 20 kilos per hectare, while farmers in the European Union use 135 kg/ha.

Experts talk of high costs, limited infrastructure and low availability of the produce as hindering African application, while Europe focuses on high-efficiency, intensive agriculture with decreasing and still high crop volumes.

It is in context that one wonders how far examining Africa’s supply chain challenges and sustainable practices in the fertiliser sector suffices, but organisers appear to be looking in the direction of boosting fertiliser business and not addressing the gap.

But plenty can still be done within the framework of boosting local and continental agricultural output, fertiliser market trends and the strategic role of fertilisers in increasing crop productivity.

The nagging problem relates to whether can formulate ways of rapidly doubling or tripling the per capita use of inputs as, going by European Union standards, Africa needs to multiply by seven its usual fertiliser application on any given acreage.

It is thus quite a tall order to have a formula around such difficulties by sorting out the marketing parameter.

However, with greater investments being directed into the continent’s agro-sector activity, more farmers could safely enter into contractual arrangements with major fertiliser and crop specific firms and apply inputs across specified zones, and finally it becomes the norm.

Success could be long in coming but, as they say, Rome was not built in a day.