Another wonderful write up. I have always gauged a writer by their ability to simplify technical concepts and by this measure, I would say you are a very talented writer.
This particular article in a way reinforces the comments I was going to make on the preceding article. I know we love to lambast our billionaires for what they are not doing but I think their actions/inactions are merely down to an understanding of how we as a people are are wired. We love to seek out the shortest route to an answer, sacrificing depth and thoroughness of thought and application. This is why we have a surfeit of internet scammers and yet have not really produced high end hackers/cybercriminals. Scamming is hard work but offers the possibility of quick returns without a need for deep technical knowledge. We only work hard in short bursts on things that offer us quick returns. We are not necessarily drawn to doing bad/immoral things but simply to doing what can offer quick returns be it legal or illegal. This usually leaves us with low quality answers/solutions. This is very evident in agriculture. A begging question remains how is it that as a people, we have been agrarian for centuries and still somehow have not organically innovated to improve yield?
I would blame the government for not providing research opportunities but having being raised right within the university community housing IAR, I can say with some certainty that the issue is not a lack of these institutes nor the development of their professional capacities but rather that their work usually ends up gathering dust on shelves or only getting implemented by small time farmers within easy reach of these institutes. While these research institutes have done significant work especially in developing improved seed varieties, there really has never been a progressive enough mindset among farmers to ask questions and then seek solutions leading them to these places/people nor any political will to push them to do so. Look for example at the saga of the Zimbabwean farmers brought in as some sort of political prop by a governor. But for curiosity and a desire to improve, what exactly set those farmers aside from our farmers who should have decades of institutionalized passed down knowledge on ag practices? Well the difference is one group asked pertinent questions to find answers to improve their end product and limit uncertainties, while the other ascribed these uncertainties to the whims of a supernatural being, and simply acquiesced to living with them from year to year. And when they left after their short stay, can we say anything changed in farming communities who worked directly with them? The answer to that is up in the air.
This underlies why the billionaires are the way they are. Their fastest route to success does not lie in developing local solutions but in trading in already available solutions. And if they pivot to investing in developing products and trade routes based on local produce, they would likely end up like the Dangote tomato factory - a shiny investment that cannot find tomatoes in sufficient quantities due to farmers not willing or unable to keep up with demand. This would probably have been the fate of the refinery as well but for the availability of international sources of crude oil.
Until there is a paradigm shift in mindset which would be difficult to see through because we have been the way we are for centuries, a society where innovation is eschewed for paying obeisance to the supernatural, progress will merely be limited to copying what others have perfected. Not because local solutions cannot or have not been produced but simply because not enough people are truly seeking to do the hard and in most cases thankless work of pioneering moving research into development and then into practicable solutions.
Interesting write up. Can you show a reference to the chart attached. Also as an active participant in the sector, I think the challenges are induced by political and to a very large extent socio-cultural constraints (which is typical of any sector in the country). We have the human resources but they are scarcely motivated to effect any real change.
Another wonderful write up. I have always gauged a writer by their ability to simplify technical concepts and by this measure, I would say you are a very talented writer.
This particular article in a way reinforces the comments I was going to make on the preceding article. I know we love to lambast our billionaires for what they are not doing but I think their actions/inactions are merely down to an understanding of how we as a people are are wired. We love to seek out the shortest route to an answer, sacrificing depth and thoroughness of thought and application. This is why we have a surfeit of internet scammers and yet have not really produced high end hackers/cybercriminals. Scamming is hard work but offers the possibility of quick returns without a need for deep technical knowledge. We only work hard in short bursts on things that offer us quick returns. We are not necessarily drawn to doing bad/immoral things but simply to doing what can offer quick returns be it legal or illegal. This usually leaves us with low quality answers/solutions. This is very evident in agriculture. A begging question remains how is it that as a people, we have been agrarian for centuries and still somehow have not organically innovated to improve yield?
I would blame the government for not providing research opportunities but having being raised right within the university community housing IAR, I can say with some certainty that the issue is not a lack of these institutes nor the development of their professional capacities but rather that their work usually ends up gathering dust on shelves or only getting implemented by small time farmers within easy reach of these institutes. While these research institutes have done significant work especially in developing improved seed varieties, there really has never been a progressive enough mindset among farmers to ask questions and then seek solutions leading them to these places/people nor any political will to push them to do so. Look for example at the saga of the Zimbabwean farmers brought in as some sort of political prop by a governor. But for curiosity and a desire to improve, what exactly set those farmers aside from our farmers who should have decades of institutionalized passed down knowledge on ag practices? Well the difference is one group asked pertinent questions to find answers to improve their end product and limit uncertainties, while the other ascribed these uncertainties to the whims of a supernatural being, and simply acquiesced to living with them from year to year. And when they left after their short stay, can we say anything changed in farming communities who worked directly with them? The answer to that is up in the air.
This underlies why the billionaires are the way they are. Their fastest route to success does not lie in developing local solutions but in trading in already available solutions. And if they pivot to investing in developing products and trade routes based on local produce, they would likely end up like the Dangote tomato factory - a shiny investment that cannot find tomatoes in sufficient quantities due to farmers not willing or unable to keep up with demand. This would probably have been the fate of the refinery as well but for the availability of international sources of crude oil.
Until there is a paradigm shift in mindset which would be difficult to see through because we have been the way we are for centuries, a society where innovation is eschewed for paying obeisance to the supernatural, progress will merely be limited to copying what others have perfected. Not because local solutions cannot or have not been produced but simply because not enough people are truly seeking to do the hard and in most cases thankless work of pioneering moving research into development and then into practicable solutions.
Interesting write up. Can you show a reference to the chart attached. Also as an active participant in the sector, I think the challenges are induced by political and to a very large extent socio-cultural constraints (which is typical of any sector in the country). We have the human resources but they are scarcely motivated to effect any real change.