Interview with Thomas Silberhorn, Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), Berlin
On 13 January 2016, we spoke with State Secretary Thomas Silberhorn about development cooperation between the Federal Republic of Germany and Senegal, about energy as priority issue, but also about the topics Decentralisation and Food Policy.
Mr. State Secretary, what is the difference between development cooperation in the German Bundestag as against the Ministry?
Silberhorn: The German Bundestag intensively accompanies our work. It has an important supervisory function. Moreover the decision on our budget is made by the Parliament. Of course, the Ministry works differently. Our development cooperation is integrated in the multilateral framework of the United Nations, the OECD, the EU and other bodies. But above all, it creates powerful accents within the framework of cooperation with our partner countries. We normally entrust our implementing organisation, in particular the Society for International Cooperation 'GIZ' and the Reconstruction Loan Corporation 'KfW', with efficient project realisation. They operate on a worldwide basis, in fact not only in the capital cities, but on site, where we realise our projects.
The Federal Government is helping Senegal in the field of sustainable energy. In the past, the German-Senegalese cooperation also comprised fields of activity like Decentralisation and Sustainable Economic Development. You deal with a country, which is extremely centralised. How can you help such a country, when you come from a federally structured country like Germany?
Silberhorn: Decentralisation is an enormous task in many African countries. In Africa, there are huge inequalities within the societies of the individual countries. This comes along with strong centralisation in both the state and the business sector. In Germany, our experience shows that decentralisation helps to facilitate innovation, and to better gear decisions to the needs of the parties involved. Decentralisation serves the purpose of integrating many different groups. This means that inequalities can be better balanced, and different interests can be better equilibrated. And this is precisely what is needed in many African societies. Democracy derives its strength from balancing interests, which is an ongoing process beyond election day. This also means recognising that centralised administrative bodies are both geographically and mentally often too far away from the population and from remote parts of the country. In numerous partner countries we make attempts to contribute our German experience to this mindset, especially in the light of our federal state structure. We actively used our knowledge and experience in this field for a long time in these countries, including Senegal, and we have already achieved a great deal.
On the issue of food policy it must be said that the African population is expected to double until 2050. In other words: Your Ministry will not be able to cope with this task alone. Can you imagine that the BMZ will include the private industry in the development policy?
Silberhorn: Of course we do. This is also urgently required. We make a contribution out of tax money as Official Development Assistance, and the same applies to the other donor countries. The industrialised countries bear responsibility to partially use their funds for sustainable global development. But development cannot be advanced with money alone, and it will not be possible to sustainably develop a country solely with tax money. The private sector is also needed for that purpose. We explicitly include companies in our development cooperation, since we are interested in achieving a situation where enterprises responsibly invest in developing countries. And we attach great importance to encouraging the private industry in Germany and Europe to turn more strongly to our African neighbouring continent than until now. We have around 500.000 companies in Germany, of which only 1.000 are involved in Africa. This is by far too little. And this is the reason why the German industry must likewise make a greater contribution to sustainable development on the African continent and on a worldwide basis.
In which areas do you recognise any chances for the German companies?
Silberhorn: To give but one example: The information and communications technology. Today, there are about 700 million mobile phones in Africa, but 500 million in Europe, which means that in Africa the mobile phone market is now already much bigger than in Europe. Here, enormous opportunities for innovation and development arise - not only quantitatively with a view to the growth of population, but also because in Africa the young population is mobile, flexible and innovative. Now already, mobile payment systems are much more successful in African states than in Europe. In Kenya, 60% of the gross national income is transacted by means of the payment system M-Pesa. In Germany, we are far from reaching that goal.
Worldwide food security seems to be particularly dear to you?
Silberhorn: We are convinced that natural resources are available in sufficient quantities for feeding the world population. A world without hunger is possible. However, the existing potential is not sufficiently used. We therefore identified food security and the fight against hunger as a priority in our Ministry. My Minister established our own task force called "EINEWELT ohne Hunger", meaning ONE WORLD without hunger. This special unit searches for solutions for the entire value-added chain in the agricultural and fisheries policy. Topics include land rights, protection of natural resources, access to financing, access to seeds, sustainable farming, access to markets, avoidance of post-harvest losses, and so on. Especially in the agricultural sector we generally need more added value and a bigger share of small farmers in the added value.
By taking this line, you are knocking on open doors at the Düsseldorf Fair, since for the first time it will present the Save Food exhibition in West Africa at the Food and Packaging Fair in Dakar on 9 April 2016, and on that occasion couple the presentation with a Conference on the topic "Avoidance of food losses and food waste". Are the objectives pursued by "Save Food" and by your initiative "EINEWELT ohne Hunger" not identical?
Silberhorn: The initiatives can reasonably supplement each other. Recently the "Grüne Woche" fair (Green Week) took place in Berlin, which is the world's largest agricultural fair. On that occasion our Ministry had for the first time its own exhibition hall, since we can and must use the great development potentials in the agricultural policy and industry of numerous countries, in order to achieve a world without hunger. At the "Grüne Woche" fair we showed ways how to reach this goal with our partners in concrete terms.
For lack of mechanisation 30% of the potato harvest is lost in Senegal, as the crop either remains under the ground, or is damaged by the hoe. On the other hand, Senegal imports 80% of its potato consumption.
Silberhorn: Where and what products are grown, must be decided locally. Potato production is not the right thing everywhere. Of course, mechanisation is also needed in agriculture. But in how far it makes sense, will also depend on the locations and the farming concerned. Within the scope of our projects we promote diverse innovative approaches, so as to improve the productivity of small farmers.
The training of technicians is also a very important topic.
Silberhorn: This is the reason why we must have a holistic view on agricultural added value and must not lose sight of that aspect. We place great emphasis on making sure that small farmers will be the focus of attention in agricultural policy, since they form the largest group of farmers. They need a perspective for survival, and they must have a chance of getting out of subsistence farming and producing for a market. In many countries one of the biggest hindrances to agriculture is the lacking opportunity for small farmers to purchase land and to obtain access to financing, seeds and professional advice.
You raised the topic Fishery. I am very happy about that, since Senegal is one of the world's biggest fish producers. But you must also be in a position to cool, process and preserve the fish. As part of the German development policy in Senegal, support is given to renewable energy projects, and it would make us happy to learn that the fishing industry could be taken into account, for instance through the implementation of ice production with machines operated with renewable energies.
Silberhorn: Renewable energy is the main focus of our German-Senegalese development cooperation. As part of our commitment we aim to create framework conditions for a sustainable energy system in Senegal. This includes the electrification of rural regions, the reduction of transmission losses, respectively the improvement of the energy efficiency, but also the increased energy production by means of renewable energies. The application of photovoltaic systems in the local processing industry, in this case in the ice production of fish processing plants, is indeed an interesting solution which we currently consider.
In the energy sector, the Senegalese government has set itself very ambitious goals: Until 2017, 60% of the population shall have access to electricity, 20% of which shall come from renewable energy sources. This is a project we want to support. Besides, a substantial improvement of energy access in Africa is one of the major priorities of the new President at the African Development Bank as well.
"The challenge over the next few decades is to make sure that Added Value is generated in Africa and nowhere else", a Managing Director told me in an interview. And in the same year he even arranged for a training course conducted in his company for Senegalese enterprises, in order to teach them how to better process and pack fish, so that it can be kept fresh for a longer time.
Silberhorn: But the farmers and fishermen must likewise be included in this refinement and further processing. Hence, successful farmers in Germany are those people who not only till the soil, but also sit in the cooperative association being in charge of processing. This also creates alternative employment opportunities in agriculture. If in Senegal 70% of the population work in the agricultural sector, then the aim should be to obtain marketable products, but also to develop alternative employment opportunities in the rural area. These opportunities can in particular be found in the processing of agricultural and fishery products.
Companies can offer and develop machines. For the rest, such as the fostering of cooperative associations, we need political support. How might the Ministry be able to help in that respect?
Silberhorn: We make efforts to support German investors on their way to our partner countries. An exchange can sometimes be very helpful already, but the BMZ also disposes of funding instruments which are suitable for companies.
Thank you so much for the interview.
Interview conducted by Ibrahim Guèye.