CRR presents a detailed list of these issues, most of which are relevant in other countries as well:196 aggregates the produce of groups of farmers and sells them collectively. Another programme, iCow, allows livestock farmers to track their stock‘s gestation periods and plan accordingly.202 The Country Self-Assessment Report collated the views from focus group discussions, provincial forums and a household survey of the problems and challenges facing agriculture in Kenya. The list contains all the possible problems, without any attempt to rank their relative importance. It includes unfavourable macroeconomic environment; terms of trade shocks; inadequate legal and regulatory framework; frequent droughts and floods; lack of capital and access to credit; ineffective extension services; poor governance and corruption in key institutions supporting agriculture; inadequate market infrastructure and information; high and multiple taxes; low and declining fertility of land; pests and diseases; poor physical infrastructure (especially rural access roads); lack of storage and processing facilities; insecurity in various parts of the country; dependence on rain-fed agriculture, and increasing incidence of HIV/AIDS, malaria and waterborne diseases. Increasingly, agriculture is also dominated by environmental concerns. These are highlighted in a number of the CRRs, which stress such threats as soil erosion and climate change.203 For farmers operating with limited technological input, clearing land for cultivation has been the means of increasing output and dealing with issues of low soil fertility. Yet this leads to deforestation, which only exacerbates climate change. Harnessing modern agricultural technology to improve productivity would benefit the environment while also enabling conservation of natural resources, including forests. However, at present sub-Saharan African agriculture receives the lowest level of inputs globally in terms of mechanisation as well the use of chemical fertilisers.204 Attempts by governments to provide some support and direction to African agriculture have been numerous but of mixed success – with many areas not adequately addressed. Thus, budgets for agricultural support are often meagre.205 The Burkina Faso CRR says that policy is poorly designed and needs to be stronger on issues other than cotton.206 The South African CRR shows that the land reform programme needs to be supplemented with post-settlement support to beneficiaries. 207 The Lesotho CRR cites a lack of extension services,208 while the CRRs of Ghana and Kenya express disappointment at the state of policy and support measures for agriculture.209 The Tanzania CRR makes similar points: ‗Agriculture sector productivity has been below its potential due to slow introduction of improved technologies, high transport costs, and inadequate market competition.‘197 Another matter of concern is the lack of services available to agriculture, specifically to its smaller and informal operators. Farmers are, for example, poorly served by commercial institutions, which often do not extend credit for agriculture.198 Similarly, inadequate infrastructure is a serious barrier to the competitiveness of the sector.199 Large scale farming – ‗agribusiness‘ – is also another growing feature of the continent‘s agricultural economy. Such projects have the potential to be valuable earners of foreign exchange, to introduce innovation, provide employment and spur infrastructure development. However, these projects often produce non-food crops to service global value chains. In addition, controversies and even instability have arisen where large agricultural investments are perceived as detrimental to local populations. Also, agricultural economies need to be understood as being about a lot more than farming. Farming is one element of this, but so are innovation, technology, marketing and so on. It should be seen as a ‗knowledgebased, entrepreneurial activity‘.200 Indeed, opportunities to upgrade the performance of Africa‘s agriculture have come from technologies not immediately associated with farming. Mobile telephony, for example, has been used in Niger to transmit current market prices for staple crops, which was estimated to raise the incomes of participating traders by nearly a third.201 Mobile phones have revolutionised business for farmers elsewhere, such as in Kenya with the M-Farm system, which Surprisingly, CAADP seems to have been largely ignored by the APRM. Of the 17 CRRs reviewed for this study, it is mentioned in only four, never in any significant detail. Moreover, the 2003 Maputo Declaration on Agriculture 202 196 197 198 199 200 201 Kenya CRR, p. 127. Tanzania CRR, p. 116. Nigeria CRR, p. 169; Zambia CRR, p. 167. Nigeria CRR, p. 165; Mozambique CRR, p. 169; Ethiopia CRR, p. 138. Juma C, The new harvest: agricultural innovation in Africa (New York: Oxford University Press, 2015) p. xix. Growing Africa, p. 65 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 45 Macharia J, ‟Kenyan farmers reap the benefits of technology‟, Mail and Guardian Online (22 May 2013). Lesotho CRR, p. 100; Zambia CRR, p. 167; Zambia CRR, p. 203. Juma, above n. 195, p. 20. Uganda CRR, p. 131. Benin CRR, p. 157. South Africa CRR, p. 265. Lesotho CRR, p. 100. Kenya CRR, p. 165; Ghana CRR, p. 54.