It defies every logic, mentioning Africa in the same breath as “Food Insecurity” – a continent, endowed with vast arable lands, compared to other continents. More than half of Africa’s land is arable.  Agriculture (crop farming especially) is a very attractive venture on the continent despite the low level of technological advancement on the continent, compared to places like Europe and America. It would therefore be safe to say that Africa has no business whatsoever except as a donor, on any table where the  “food crisis” is being discussed. But the sad reality today is that Africa remains as vulnerable to a food crisis as other countries outside Euro-America, as a result of conflicts in far flung lands. A good example is the Russia-Ukraine conflict, taking place about 6000 kilometres away from the continent. Due to being over-dependent on imported food from those countries, Africans are feeling it as much as those who reside in those countries. According to a report, African countries imported agricultural products worth US$4 billion from Russia in 2020. About 90% of this was wheat, and 6% was sunflower oil. Major importing countries were Egypt, which accounted for nearly half of the imports, followed by Sudan, Nigeria, Tanzania, Algeria, Kenya, and South Africa. As much as 32% of the wheat Africa consume also comes from Ukraine, according to a report by the International Centre for Migration Policy Development, ICMPD.

It is not as if Africa does not have the natural endowment to produce most of these products; she does. But, there is no gainsaying the fact that there are problems militating against the development of agriculture on the continent. She has the potential to produce to such a level that she would have enough for her population, and still manages to export. These issues, some of which are highlighted by a UN agency- the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO)- include lack of manpower with the requisite knowledge, technology, and facility to produce, process and preserve farm produce. In addition, the low level of technological development which limits farmers to obsolete equipment inhibits productivity. These have proven to be difficult tasks, especially in cases where the technology to mass-produce is lacking. Other challenges also include conflict leading to insecurity, like the Tigray war in Ethiopia, and the insurgency in northern Nigeria. These conflicts have only come to aggravate the minimal food insecurity situation before the war. The larger part of Tigray has now entered emergency and famine conditions, according to a report by DownToEarth. Also Northern Nigeria, which has been under the siege of Boko Haram insurgency and banditry for more than a decade, is an area whose capacity to produce food has been hugely decimated by insecurity.

An illustration of conflict in  Ethiopia’s Western Tigray Zone via Human rights Watch

Like Dr. Abebe Haile-Gabriel- FAO Assistant Director-General and Regional Representative for Africa- rightly opined in his article, titled, “Agriculture will make or break Africa’s free trade experiment”, published in June 2021″, Africa depends on exporting commodities like cocoa, coffee, cashew, cotton, tobacco etc. to lay a claim to earning from agriculture its much-needed foreign exchange, while remaining a net importer of staple foods like rice, wheat, vegetable oil, dairy foods, and even (processed) meat, which renders her susceptible to catching a cold, whenever any of her supplier-countries sneezes.

Haile-Gabriel believes that an Africa that is secured in terms of food, will constitute a fertile ground for intra-regional trade to blossom. It is also my opinion that it will put Africa in a good stead to negotiate from a position of strength with the rest of the world, within the framework of AfCFTA. But AfCFTA cannot fully achieve these aims and objectives, if its needs for food are import-dependent. Whatever gain made, through intra-regional trade, in that situation, will be eroded by the consequent “Capital Flight” resulting from importation of staple foods.