Covid-19 presents an opportunity for Africa to boost local food production and trade
Accounting for more than 60% of the world’s arable land, agriculture constitutes one of the most significant economic activities in Africa, and contributes the greatest share by far (25%) to the continent’s GDP.
Despite its huge potential — both for food production and generating economic returns — the sector still faces a number of daunting challenges. This is evidenced, for example, by the growing gap between domestic food demand and supply, and the steady rise of malnutrition on the continent.
In 2015, a report from the AfDB ‘Feed Africa pillar’ revealed that the continent had an estimated net food import bill of US $35.4 billion. This was one of the main reasons behind the introduction of the African Development Bank (AfDB) 2015–2025 Strategy for Agricultural Transformation in Africa, as a means to reposition agriculture in Africa.
The main pillars of the strategy are increasing agricultural production, promoting value addition, creating enablers for agricultural investment, and financing agricultural transformation in Africa.
Despite this, and other large-scale initiatives by public and private sector stakeholders across the continent, however, there has been no significant change in the export bill to date, as analyzed in this recent Mckinsey report.
Can Africa look inwardly to maximize agricultural potentials?
Food production is big business anywhere in the world. Even at today’s relatively low productivity rates, Africa’s food and agriculture industry is projected to reach an estimated at $ 1 trillion USD by 2030.
According to data from the International Cocoa Organization, over 70% of the world’s cocoa beans come from four West African countries: Ivory Coast, Ghana, Cameroon, and Nigeria.
Nigeria ranks as the world’s largest producer of cassava, while Ethiopia and Uganda are among the top ten global coffee producers.
As AfDB President Akinwumi Adesina, once said, “there is absolutely no reason why Africa is a net food-importing region, spending over $35 billion importing food. Africa must feed itself — and Africa must become a global powerhouse in food and agriculture.”
Such inspirational words are a call to action to look inward and explore the vast potentials existing for Africa to feed itself, feed the world and accelerate internal trading for agro-commodities.
Grow local, trade local
As the Covid-19 pandemic continues to disrupt global food systems, it is even more imperative to examine how the continent can leverage its enormous potential to meet essential food needs, while also driving agricultural transformation from both demand and supply sides.
As the saying goes, “food is the engine for survival.” But the hidden truth is, without sustainable food production, it will be impossible to feed the growing population. As the pandemic continues to threaten our food systems, it’s important to promote the concept of “grow local, eat local,” by supporting local farmers to not only produce sufficient food to meet the growing demand, but to do it in a way that does not compromise Africa’s increasingly fragile ecosystems.
Such demand can be further scaled up through facilitating intraregional trade, hence providing incentives for investing in more production. With a bigger market, countries can focus on their comparative advantages in agro-commodities, further driving down production costs. For example, Nigeria alone produces 71% of yam production in Africa, creating an opportunity to export to other African countries where demand is high. In turn, West Africa relies on coffee and tea products from Eastern African producing countries.
At the recent edition of the GLFBonn2020, Ada Osakwe, Founder of Agrolay Ventures shared a ‘Go Local Grow Local’ model that is geared towards promoting local production, reducing imports, and increasing income for farmers.
Paving it forward with AfCFTA
While the benefits of intraregional trade are indisputable, Africa needs to make significant investments to reduce trade barriers, such as the high cost of transporting goods across borders due to poor road networks, and inefficient border controls. The adoption of the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) by African the Heads of State and Government by 44 of the 55 African Union member states in March 2018 marked a pivotal moment towards addressing these structural challenges.
With the establishment of AfCFTA, Africa was set to operate a single continental market for goods and services, with free movement of businesspersons and investments within the fifty-four African countries.
While the Covid-19 pandemic has put on hold the official commencement of the agreement by signatory countries (originally scheduled to begin on 1st July 2020), it has opened a window for incorporating lessons learned from this crisis. In particular, African countries can explore how a regional free trade agenda will help rebuild local economies, and drive internal trade for agro-commodities to enhance food security.
The pandemic also calls for reflections on how to further leverage potential in the agricultural and agribusiness sectors to create wealth and ensure sustained economic growth in the post-Covid era.
For the continent to fully tap its agricultural potential, however, complementary measures will need to be scaled up at the local, national, and subregional levels. Without strengthening local production, expanding investments in value addition, and improving infrastructural, and logistical support systems, African countries may not fulfill the promise of one the most ambitious regional initiatives in the last few decades.
Written by John Agboola
This article is part of Covid-19 Food/Future, an initiative under TMG ThinkTank for Sustainability’s SEWOH Lab project (https://www.tmg-thinktank.com/sewoh-lab). It aims at providing a unique and direct insight into the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic on national and local food systems. Also follow @CovidFoodFuture, our Video Diaries From Nairobi, and @TMG_think on Twitter. Funding for this initiative is provided by BMZ, the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development.
