Investing in Agriculture: Transforming Africa’s Food Industry

The continent spends over USD60 billion yearly on food imports that it could generate domestically. African countries have allocated large sums to agriculture, but according to experts, this is insufficient. As a result, countries are experiencing deficits even as governments continue to spend billions of dollars bolstering their military defenses, which fuels conflict, displacement, and hunger. In a study utilizing satellite data from NASA's Landsat, researchers from the universities of Maryland and Texas in the United States cast doubt on the rapid development of cultivated land in Africa. It was previously recorded that Africa's agricultural area has expanded by more than a third during thepast two decades (2000-2019), accounting for 52 percent of the global increase, or 102 million hectares. The continent is said to contain around one-fourth of the world's agricultural land but millions of people continue to face malnutrition as dry and semi-arid regions are devastated by drought. According to Oxfam International, the continent spends over USD60 billion yearly on food imports that it could generate domestically if it invested in its farmers and food producers. African countries have allocated large sums to agriculture, but according to experts, this is insufficient. As a result, countries are experiencing deficits