Official Review: Against All Odds by Leon Hesser

[Samantha Simoneau]

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Against All Odds" by Leon Hesser.]

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3 out of 4 stars

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The outlook was bleak for Nigeria at the dawn of this century due to a host of overlapping unfortunate circumstances, including rapid population growth unmatched by sufficient food supply, massive importation of necessary commodities (many of which could be produced domestically but weren’t), high unemployment rates, and widespread poverty resulting in rampant malnutrition, hunger, and death. In addition, poor planning, weak infrastructure, and low availability of much-needed information and technology for the farmers of the nation invited unchecked corruption even at high levels of government. It seemed that Nigeria specifically, and Africa in general, could only expect to reap heartbreak and tragedy.

In Against All Odds, author Leon Hesser indirectly suggests that a tragedy is merely an opportunity unseized. He introduces his readers to Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, former Nigerian Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, a farmer’s son and grandson who sought education as an escape from generational poverty and then tirelessly applied that education to lifting his native land out of its own destructive pattern. After a brief personal and political biography of Dr. Adesina in Part 1 of 3, Hesser methodically itemizes the problems plaguing Nigeria in the early 2000s and attempts to trace their historical and physical sources. These were the Odds Dr. Adesina faced when he became Nigeria’s Minister of Agriculture in 2010 with the ambitious objective of seeing to it that Nigeria (and, ultimately, Africa) became self-sufficient and prosperous through innovation, extensive collaboration, implementation of technology, eliminating fraud, supporting gender equality, improving efficiency, and destigmatizing farming in the minds of lenders and youth.

Against All Odds is encyclopedic in covering the process of Transforming African Agriculture (to quote the subtitle) from 2010 to the writing of the book, which was published in 2019. With the help of photos, informative graphs, quotes from those involved, and endless statistics, Hesser exhaustively describes each created government entity, fund, and strategy involved; every issue, hiccup, and unforeseen roadblock; and all of the value chains pre- and post-optimization. The author’s dedication to thoroughness often results in a dry reading experience, in my opinion. Honestly, what I anticipated to be largely a biographical work of an inspirational figure reads more like a how-to textbook on revamping and reinvigorating a national agricultural landscape. Perhaps I jumped to conclusions when I originally perused the book, but, despite the fact that it includes an acronym glossary, I was not expecting the onslaught of percentages, dollar amounts, and acronyms that rushed at me from nearly every page. For example:

“ENACTS will enable NIMET to develop this database and train staff from both NIMET and FMARD in data analysis.”

I can only conclude that I am not one of the intended audience for Against All Odds, which would certainly be a priceless resource to someone fascinated with agricultural reform or for a government seeking to overcome similar challenges to its nation’s wellbeing. I do need to thank Hesser for expanding my vocabulary with words such as phytosanitary, transited, moribund, oleoresin, dicotyledonous, and acaricide, to name a few. Further limiting this book’s apparently narrow readership are the typographical, punctuation, and grammatical errors. They are minor but many and include incorrect and missing punctuation; inconsistent use of bold typeface, caps, and abbreviations; and occasional more glaring errors such as words in the wrong tense (“share” for “sharing”), exchange of homophones (“capital” and “capitol”), and missing words (“70% of had children”). Additionally, some of the graphs are difficult to read, and several of the hyperlinks are dead ends.

While the issues I found in this book prevent me from giving it a perfect rating, I wish I could award it 3.5 stars because it is not Leon Hesser’s fault that I am uninitiated to the subject matter and found myself a bit bewildered. I was encouraged by the sections and chapters whose amazing recent statistics illustrate the wild success of Nigeria’s Herculean efforts. I fully expect more good news about the “African renaissance” championed by Dr. Adesina, who, in his current position as president of the African Development Bank, is working with many others to scale up Nigeria’s transformation for the benefit of Africa at large. I sincerely hope Dr. Adesina proves prophetic when he says:

”We will arise and feed Africa. The day is coming very soon when all its children will be well-fed, when millions of small-holder farmers will be able to send their kids to school.”

I recommend this book to people involved in any businesses within or affected by agriculture, students of or those interested in reform, and anyone who loves to root for the underdog. I award Leon Hesser’s work 3 out of 4 stars for educating me about life outside my protective bubble, fueling my compassion, and showcasing what a beautiful future is harvested when people work together, Against All Odds, to plant the seeds of hope.

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Against All Odds
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[Adanna Inya]

Statistics are just that. Do they reflect on the average Nigerian who has to scrape the fields and eat from whatever they make per day? I'm Nigerian and this hits close to home. Back in the villages and rural areas, the farmers don't have enough funds, education or technology to farm successfully till date.

I'd have loved to read this book, but I can't deal with the "sugared" information it may be laced with. Again, I don't have a head for all those skull shattering grammar you listed. Beautiful review by you.Thank you.

[Ngozi Onyibor]

As a Nigerian, I am a little surprised by the author's assessment of Nigeria. Dr. Adeshina was the Nigerian minister for agriculture a little over five years ago. Though he tried his best while in office, many of the progress he made has been upended by the current government. As the president of the African Development Bank, I doubt there is much he can do to effect lasting change in the agricultural sector in Nigeria without presidential support. Thanks for your review.

[Gabriel Merêncio]

I'm always interested in reading books about Africa, though agriculture is definitely not my area of expertise (but I want to learn more about it). Thank you for the review and thanks to the Nigerian commenters for adding to the discussion!

[Anon_Reviewer]

Thanks to your detailed review, I am pretty sure this is not the book for me. Nonetheless, I am glad you found it educational. Thanks for the wonderful review.

[Samantha Simoneau]

Statistics are just that. Do they reflect on the average Nigerian who has to scrape the fields and eat from whatever they make per day? I'm Nigerian and this hits close to home. Back in the villages and rural areas, the farmers don't have enough funds, education or technology to farm successfully till date.

I'd have loved to read this book, but I can't deal with the "sugared" information it may be laced with. Again, I don't have a head for all those skull shattering grammar you listed. Beautiful review by you.Thank you.

It is edifying to hear from someone who would have firsthand knowledge of the state of things in Nigeria right now, as I can have no idea just how accurate the information in this book actually is. I had hoped all of the positives were accurate. Thank you for reading and replying!

[Samantha Simoneau]

As a Nigerian, I am a little surprised by the author's assessment of Nigeria. Dr. Adeshina was the Nigerian minister for agriculture a little over five years ago. Though he tried his best while in office, many of the progress he made has been upended by the current government. As the president of the African Development Bank, I doubt there is much he can do to effect lasting change in the agricultural sector in Nigeria without presidential support. Thanks for your review.

I'm troubled to find that Hesser's positive assessment might actually be inaccurate, but I appreciate that Nigerians are reading and reacting to my review. Thank you for sharing, and I hope conditions improve considerably and rapidly for everyone struggling with the issues described in Hesser's book.

[Samantha Simoneau]

I'm always interested in reading books about Africa, though agriculture is definitely not my area of expertise (but I want to learn more about it). Thank you for the review and thanks to the Nigerian commenters for adding to the discussion!

I also find Africa very interesting but know very little about agriculture. Thank you for reading and replying!

[Samantha Simoneau]

Thanks to your detailed review, I am pretty sure this is not the book for me. Nonetheless, I am glad you found it educational. Thanks for the wonderful review.

This book is definitely targeted to a particular audience, and a dizzying education it was. Thank you for reading and commenting!

[Sushan Ekanayake]

The content of the book may be very much educational for those who prefer the genre, but I will pass on this one. Thanks for the nice and thorough review

[Cecilia_L]

This sounds like an invaluable resource for a specific audience, and I found your recommendation quite touching. Thanks for the excellent review.

[Harty]

I like when a book is filled with hope and positivity. The example given of the minister of Agriculture is encouraging as he sought and succeeded in stopping generational poverty in his family. Thanks for the insightful review.

[Jacktone Ogada]

Hm! Quite a nice assessment of the situation in Nigeria, though the errors as stated in the review are too careless. Great review

[Jacktone Ogada]

Thanks to your detailed review, I am pretty sure this is not the book for me. Nonetheless, I am glad you found it educational. Thanks for the wonderful review.

This book is definitely targeted to a particular audience, and a dizzying education it was. Thank you for reading and commenting!

Very true. Why bother myself in Nigerian issues while I am not a Nigerian national?

[Jacktone Ogada]

Thanks to your detailed review, I am pretty sure this is not the book for me. Nonetheless, I am glad you found it educational. Thanks for the wonderful review.

This book is definitely targeted to a particular audience, and a dizzying education it was. Thank you for reading and commenting!

Very true. Why bother myself in Nigerian issues while I am not a Nigerian national?

But I think the ideas can be incorporated by anyone else.