- 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.
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 even as governments continue to spend billions of dollars bolstering their military defenses, which fuels conflict, displacement, and hunger.
“The amount spent on agriculture by the 39 countries during the next three years (2019, 2020, and2021) is only 67 percent of the defense budget, proving that politicians have their priorities backwards. In more than half of African countries, the defense budget exceeds that of agriculture,” notes the study by Oxfam.
Several public programs in the agricultural sector are alleged to primarily benefit a handful of large agribusinesses that control food exports, leaving smallholder farmers, who make up a substantial portion of the continent’s labor, without access to credit, insurance, or land ownership.
Due to the projected doubling of the continent’s population by 2050, when one in four of the world’s inhabitants will reside in Sub-Saharan Africa, the agriculture sector must be transformed. This is due to the fact that the agricultural sector employs 65–70% of Africa’s work force and accounts for 30–40% of GDP.
Seventy percent or more of the continent’s impoverished reside in rural areas, and agriculture is their primary economic activity. A nation’s economic, environmental, and social well-being are inextricably related to its agriculture sector’s health and performance.
Doubling investment in Agriculture to boost productivity
According to the World Bank, increasing investments in the farm economy can yield high-impact development returns, such as increasing rural incomes, bolstering food security, making cheaper and more nutritious food available in Africa’s bustling cities, and protecting the environment through innovations such as climate-smart agriculture.
The interruption of the global supply chain caused by the Russia-Ukraine war has high lighted the need for Africa to increase its food production. Investments in irrigation, mechanization, storage facilities, and modern inputs have been recognized as key priority areas that will enable farmers across the continent to produce adequate food for them selves and their communities.
In the medium to long-term, farmers will be able to produce, store, and sell surpluses to neighboring countries.
According to a McKinsey report, for Sub-Saharan Africa to realize its agricultural potential, it must invest$8 billion in enhanced storage and $65 billion in irrigation. Additionally, farmers require eight times more fertilizer and six times more quality seeds.
In their report titled ‘winning in Africa’s agricultural market,’ McKinsey notes that substantial investment will be required in basic infrastructure such as roads, ports, and energy, as well as improvements in policy and regional trade flows.
The firm says that an analysis of productivity potential across 44 sub-Saharan African countries revealed that nine countries account for sixty percent of the entire potential, with Ethiopia, Nigeria, and Tanzania accounting for fifty percent. While this potential is highly concentrated, the substantial variance in agricultural development and policy throughout the continent necessitates market-specific strategies.
The three countries with the most potential exhibit this variety well in terms of government involvement in agriculture, an enabling environment, and characteristics such as the adoption of improved inputs.
Dakar Declaration on food security in Africa
In January, during the second Africa Food Summit in Dakar, Senegal, the continent’s leaders and development partners committed USD30 billion to support the continent’s ambition to increase agricultural output and become the world’s breadbasket.
The African Development Bank aims to give $10 billion over the next five years, while the Islamic Development Bank will provide $5 billion.
Under the theme; “Feed Africa: food sovereignty and resilience,” the Dakar 2 Summit adopted a Declaration on the implementation of the Summit’s resolution, which will be forwarded to the African Union.
“The message was clear: we would work together to vigorously support the execution of the Food and Agricultural Delivery Compacts at the national level.”
The heads of state and government pledged to establishing high-level presidential advisory committees to oversee the implementation of the declaration, to be chaired by the presidents themselves in their respective nations.
In the Dakar Declaration, the leaders committed to allocate at least 10 percent of public expenditures to improve funding for agriculture. In order to attain food security and self-sufficiency, they also determined to implement robust production programs to promote productivity and enhance resilience.
If properly implemented, the proposed investments will assist in enhancing food security in Africa, where one-third of the world’s 828 million hungry people reside. The continent has a vast agricultural potential that might allow it to maintain food sovereignty, but it is necessary to provide agricultural technologies to farmers on a large scale, increase food production, and increase investments in food and agricultural systems.
In light of the push to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 2 of the United Nations, “Zero Hunger,” it will be crucial to observe how governments invest in the industry.
African governments, development partners, and the business sector must demonstrate strong political will for the continent’s agriculture industry to flourish.
Global warming
In the meantime, climate change will continue to be a topic of discussion around the expansion of the agricultural industry.
Many African staple crops, such as wheat, maize, sorghum, and millet, continue to struggle in the face of rising temperatures, posing a significant problem.
The World Bank asserts that adapting Africa’s food system to climate change is a need, not a choice.
According to the international lender, the leading adaptation solutions for food systems are well-defined and based on empirical facts and practical experience.
Among these are public policy solutions, food value chain and livelihood solutions, and on-farm and productive landscape solutions.
According to the Global Center on Adaptation’s Status and Trends in Adaptation Report 2021: Africa, public sector investments in Africa should prioritize research and field extension services, water management, infrastructure, land restoration, and climate information services.
This will strengthen the resilience of small-scale farmers, pastoralists, fishers, and entrepreneurs.
“The increased momentum on adapting Africa’s food systems to climate change is increasingly being reflected in climate-smart investments across the continent, but more must be done,” says the World Bank.
This is done in order to better support small-scale producers, who are essential to increasing the resilience of African communities.
To increase and target capital flows to these farmers, pastoralists, fishers, and small businesses, it will be necessary to design new financing mechanisms and overcome long-standing technical and institutional barriers, such as limited capacity to manage production, marketing, and price risks, and high transaction costs associated with lending to farmers.
