On the continent, initiatives are coming one after the other to put African agriculture on track. The objective is to contribute to food self-sufficiency, which is struggling to be achieved despite the ambitions of States and the objectives they have set for themselves.
Food imports: hefty bill for Africa
Africa still relies on food imports, spending some $75 billion each year to import more than 100 million tonnes of food. “Africa should not import food. It is expected to become a major food-producing region and supply its surpluses to the rest of the world. If there is one thing that Africa can do for the world, it is to help it feed itself,” protests the President of the AfDB. And yet, the Russo-Ukrainian war affected the continent’s food security. It caused a surge in the prices of wheat and corn imported from Russia and Ukraine. As a reminder, Ukraine supplies 31% of the corn imported by Africa. Due to the war, the continent is unable to import some 30 million tonnes of food. The continent, which also depends on Russia and Ukraine for its massive fertilizer imports, is also facing a crisis at this level, because fertilizer prices have increased by 2 to 4 times since 2020, severely limiting the capacities of governments and the purchasing power of private buyers.
Promoting self-sufficiency and adapting to the climate
The progress made in the field of agriculture in Africa is quite encouraging, despite the current challenges. The AfDB’s Technologies for African Agricultural Transformation (TAAT) program, supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa and others, is beginning to show results on the field, on farms across the continent. Since its launch in 2018, TAAT has helped provide improved agricultural technologies to nearly 12 million farmers and helped produce 25 million tonnes of food. The results obtained in Sudan and Ethiopia are landmarks. In Ethiopia, heat-resistant wheat varieties have enabled the country to become self-sufficient in wheat production. According to the ADB, in just three years, cultivated areas have increased from 5,000 hectares in 2018-2019 to 645,000 hectares in 2021-2022. This country plans to become a net exporter of wheat to Djibouti and Kenya. Sudan also used heat-resistant wheat varieties on 317,000 hectares, cutting its wheat imports in half in just two years.
“Mission 1 for 200” and “Sustain Africa”
The AfDB, the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa, the Sustainable Trade Initiative (IDH), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and Sustain Africa have launched “Mission 1 for 200”, which aims to ensure food security long-term. The goal is to mobilize $1 billion to scale climate-resilient agricultural technologies, double food productivity for 40 million smallholder farmers, produce 100 million tons of food and feed 200 million people. “Think about what this means: it means that we will be able to reduce hunger in Africa by more than 80%,” enthuses the president of the AfDB. For its part, the Sustain Africa initiative aims to help Africa produce food on 7 million acres, support 1.6 million farmers, produce basic food crops and combat certain impacts of the Russo-Ukrainian war on food security in Africa.
Abdellah Benahmed / ECO Inspirations
