THE time is now right for African countries to effectively tackle hunger and nutrition insecurity, address climate change, and advance inclusive development, leading agronomists are warning.
In the wake of overlapping food systems shocks, such as climate-induced drought and floods, locust attacks, the Covid-19 pandemic, and conflict, the World Bank warned that for each one percentage point increase in food prices, 10 million people are thrown into extreme poverty. If food prices stay this high for a year, global poverty could go up by more than 100 million people, it added.
Now, Josefa Sacko, an agronomist and AU Commissioner for Agriculture, and Agnes Kalibata, President of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), are calling for African countries to ‘adapt and fundamentally transform food systems to meet its development goal.
Writing recently on the website of Devex, a global media platform for the development community, they noted: ‘As the world scrambles to address the current crises, the continent is reminded that only Africans can take responsibility for building climate resilient, nutritious, and inclusive systems that leave no one behind — as envisioned by the Sustainable Development Goals.
‘This is why the African Union declared 2022 as the Year of Nutrition and why we must implement the national food systems pathways agreed upon at the UN Food Systems Summit in 2021.
‘Progress made to date will be undone if we fail to lead and fail to act now,’ Sacko and Kalibata argued.
They highlighted a number of achievements in African agricultural production after decades of stagnation, pointing out that the continent witnessed sustained agricultural growth of 4.73 per cent a year on average between 2000 and 2018.
But, currently, ‘Africa is struggling to achieve the SDGs’.
Sacko and Kalibata wrote. ‘The African Common Position and national food systems pathways will not happen without stakeholders at every stage of the food system taking ownership – governments, the private sector, finance institutions, producers, and civil society.
‘Those with a responsibility to act, ensure strong accountability, avoid unnecessary externalities, and ensure investments are attracted to food systems.
‘So, the AU Commission, with other partners, is developing a blueprint to move from national pathways to food systems strategies and investment plans that will help unlock priority actions and needed investments,’ they added.
The IMF, in a recent blog, also picked up on the issue of weak food systems in Africa, pointing out that ‘climate change is intensifying food insecurity across sub-Saharan Africa, where Russia’s war in Ukraine and the pandemic are also adding to food shortages and high prices’.
‘Climate events, which destroy crops and disrupt food transport, are disproportionately common in the region,’ the IMF said.
‘One-third of the world’s droughts occur in sub-Saharan Africa, and Ethiopia and Kenya are enduring one of the worst in at least four decades.
‘Countries such as Chad are also being severely impacted by torrential rains and floods.’
The IMF called for the use of more technology to aid African farmers.
But, as Paramount Energy and Commodities, which has invested $500 million in the food sector in Angola, noted, it was ‘not necessarily the case of a need for new technology, more a case of implementing pre-existing technology on a larger scale’.
The company said basic warehousing, refrigeration units, and transport capabilities would all go a long way to reducing the waste in the sector.
A spokesman in Luanda said: ‘The agro-processing sector in sub-Saharan Africa is almost non-existent.
‘As a result of the poor processing capacity, post-harvest losses of fruit and vegetables sit between 35-50 per cent, or 15-25 per cent for grains.
‘The lack of agro-processing capabilities is one of the most obvious and widely agreed upon solutions to alleviate food insecurity across Africa,’ the spokesman added.
Paramount said that sustainable, long-term, and self-sufficient solutions to the current commodities crisis must be carried out rapidly, ‘otherwise even more people will face alarming levels of hunger and poverty’.
The company pointed out that by enabling access to affordable energy and food supply the economies of Africa could ‘flourish, economic activity is stimulated, and local entrepreneurship encouraged, ultimately leading to a more equal distribution of wealth and power’.
However, all does not seem lost, as Sacko and Kalibata noted: ‘Farmers are increasingly using innovative approaches and scientific research combined with traditional knowledge to increase the productivity of their fields, diversify their crops, boost their nutrition, and build climate resilience.
The multiple crises that have created rippling effects on Africa’s food systems were brought into sharp focus at this year’s Africa Green Revolution Forum (AGRF) in Kigali.
The AGRF is Africa’s premier platform for discussing the continent’s agricultural transformation and managing food crisis.
‘We have already heard from the governments of Ghana, Malawi and Rwanda at the AGRF, on how they are implementing their food systems pathways to inspire other countries,’ Sacko and Kalibata said.