Written by Dr. Nimrod Israely at Biofeed Ltd
In recent years, I have devoted thousands of hours to study and learn the scope of the following question: Why is agriculture in Africa far less advanced than the West and not realizing its potential?
This raises two key questions:
1) What is the potential of the African agro-industry?
2) What is preventing Africa from achieving global leadership in agriculture?
Regarding the first question, objectively, the African agro-industry potential can be calculated as a total sum of its components. For example, we can calculate the potential based on total arable land, climate suitability, radiation (sun), water resources, labor availability, etc.
In such a case, we would find an imaginary potential greater in magnitude than that of Europe.
Regarding the second question, there are many and varied answers to this question. Some common responses include insufficient technology, finance, and education, in addition to rooted corruption. When I asked my colleagues on social media, I received many answers (see illustration).
We can conclude from the above that the "agriculture in Africa is far less advanced than in the West and its potential is unfulfilled". This is not because the West's potential is greater or Africa's potential is minor, but because of "other reasons", primarily internal to African countries.
If we think of countries as big "organizations", we can analyze the above question from a different perspective, the perspective of an organization management expert.
Dr. Itzhak Adize's answer
Dr. Itzhak Adizes is a globally renowned expert in Organization Management. Leadership Excellence Journal ranked him among the "Top Thirty Thought Leaders of America".
It is, therefore, interesting to analyze the above questions and assumptions in the prism of his theories.
I never asked, in person, Dr. Adizes for his opinion as to WHY there is a wide gap between the potential and the realities of agriculture in Africa.
However, his theories, describing Cause & Effect, have an "opinion" and unique perspective on probable causes of the wide gap.
According to Dr. Adizes organization theory –
Organizations have a limited given amount of energy. This limited energy is first invested in internal struggles, and ONLY the remaining energy (the delta) is invested in promoting innovation and improving competitiveness to better compete with other organizations.
This is a universal law affecting all organizations.
Continue reading "Why African agriculture lags – an analysis in the light of organizational theory"
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