Food distribution within Africa harder than export to Europe, Americas – Agbugba

In Africa, food security is a major problem, despite the projection that the continent can feed the nine billion people that will inhabit the planet by 2050. The International Coordinator, Africa Agriculture Agenda, Dr. Ikechi Agbugba, in this interview with EHIME ALEX, sets post-COVID-19 agenda for African governments:

Food security is a global concern. Do you think Africa is taking adequate steps to ensure food sufficiency for its citizens?

I have always highlighted in most of the interviews I granted that Africa is diversely blessed with food and other agro resources, and its potential to drive global transformation by feeding the whole world in the year 2050 makes Africa imperative. Food security is a huge problem in virtually all countries of Africa. For instance, Nigeria, the acclaimed giant of Africa, ranks 84th of 119 countries on the 2017 Global Hunger Index, following the Republic of Congo. If a person is food-secure, it typically means that sufficient quality food is available, and that implies enough resources to buy a nutritious diet. Sadly, African countries have not yet taken agriculture and agribusiness as a sector that can meaningfully contribute to their Gross Domestic Product, create jobs, provide raw materials for industries, and earn foreign exchange, among other benefits. Moreover, African government’s understanding of the food and agricultural value chain is limited, and that can be seen in their budget for agriculture and rural development. To this end, little or no effort is being made in ensuring food sustainability.

 

What strategies will you say are being neglected based on the Food and Agriculture Organisation recommendations?

From FAO definition of food sufficiency, I can say that food insecure persons lack regular access to enough safe and nutritious food for their normal growth and development to lead an active life. It is pertinent to mention that the policies of FAO to help countries in developing and implementing evidence-based strategies and programmes that can promote inclusive growth and sustainable livelihoods, income diversification, decent employment of women, youths and men that practise agriculture in rural communities have not received meaningful attention from African governments, despite the promising roles of the agriculture sector to drive economic growth. As a matter of fact, training sessions and development programmes for smallholder farmers who are the major practitioners of agriculture in Africa are highly limited and, to some reasonable extent, not even there.

Moreover, the smallholders are faced with the goal of driving food security, rural prosperity and inclusive growth, even in the face of ever-growing urban population in Africa. But I will not fail to commend some governments of Africa who have taken bold steps in investing in in their agriculture sector by welcoming the blessings of the fourth industrial revolution. Such nations as Rwanda, Kenya, Ghana, South Africa, Nigeria and the rest are advancing in industrialising Africa’s agriculture sector. It is high time the stakeholders of Africa’s economic transformation, through the agriculture sector, made some great effort in developing the next generation pipeline of farmers with scientific and technology advancements, which will be appealing to the youths, thereby changing their perception of agriculture or agribusiness as job for the unskilled.

 

Amid the Coronavirus Disease crisis, how largely has border closure among African countries impacted on food security?

The COVID-19 pandemic was one of the worst times for most farmers and agribusiness practitioners. Nonetheless, it is no longer news that COVID-19 put a cold face on food security status of many households, resulting in challenges within the different African regions. The situation will not improve until issues of road network within the continent are addressed and all social partners in Africa’s networking are securely addressed with gaps in trade and skills on logistics and food production. Predominantly, movement restrictions put in place to reduce the spread of COVID-19 affected labour mobility and availability, especially for the predominantly labour-intensive agricultural production in Sub-Saharan Africa. In the course of time, as part of the control measures put in place by the 54 countries of SSA, COVID-19 border restrictions had implications on food security, as movement restrictions coincided with planting periods for most of the staple crops. These measures affected important staple crops in SSA, and are likely to exacerbate food security challenges in many countries. More so, achieving adequate food supply in SSA requires developing better policies and packages to confront the bottleneck of reducing hunger post-COVID-19. Hence, the lessons learnt after the COVID-19 crisis will be relevant for African countries in re-thinking their strategies and policies for sustainable economic growth.

 

How would you rate African governments’ efforts thus far in responding to the impact of COVID-19 on food security?

First, we must understand that though the current food problems are by and large not driven by food shortages, supply disruptions and inflation affecting key agricultural inputs such as fertilisers and seeds, or prolonged labour shortages, which could diminish the next season’s crop. If farmers are experiencing acute hunger, they may also prioritise consuming seeds as food today over planting seeds for tomorrow, eventually raising the threat of food shortages.

Second, at the country level, the governments of Africa, World Bank and international partners closely monitor domestic food and agricultural supply chains, track how the loss of employment and income is impacting people’s ability to buy food, and ensure that food systems continue to function despite COVID-19 challenges. For instance, in Sierra Leone, emergency financing scheme under the on-going Smallholder Commercialisation and Agribusiness Development Project is helping support government’s COVID-19 response initiatives with inputs, land mechanisation services, as well as extension services to support rice farmers. In Rwanda, the Sustainable Agricultural Intensification and Food Security Project provides support for farmers in maintaining current levels of exports thereby supporting co-operatives of horticulturists such as tomatoes and other edible vegetables to meet the increased airfreight and other logistics costs due to COVID-19 lockdowns.

 

Looking at the dimensions of food security, where should the government prioritise effort post-COVID-19?

To ensure that the agriculture sector is not further impacted by the distortions caused by COVID-19, the government should ensure that more palliatives are provided to farmers in the form of improved seedlings, basic farm implements at highly subsidised rates, free or more affordable farm extension services, as well as intervening in their other needs. It is worthy of note that despite the challenges of COVID-19 on many lives and families, most developed nations such as the United States announced up to additional $14bn for agricultural producers who continue to face market disruptions and associated costs because of COVID-19.

Also, it is of great importance to ensure that the sector is accorded more budgetary allocations in line with the Maputo Declaration by increasing the operational capacity of the strategic grain reserves, and re-introduction of farming clusters to be financed through Public Private Partnership arrangement. In addition, African states should re-assess their area of core competences in the agriculture value chain and promote investment in that area. For instance, Cote d’Ivoire and Ghana that produce Cocoa in large quantities and could develop their roles in the value chain have comparative advantage over countries like South Africa, among other nations that do not product or export cocoa.

In other words, from a practical viewpoint, African governments should be encouraged to partner and network beyond just attending African Union meetings. We must, therefore, build regional food banks and make funds available for this undertaking. The three conditions for funding agro projects are: no corruption; project management, which must be a joint effort with our organisation; and unlocking the funding potential of the ready member states.

 

The World Bank is calling for collective action to keep food trade flowing between countries. How can African countries leverage effectively?

Until road infrastructure, among other transportation and logistics needs of Africa, is given attention, food trade will continue to suffer. It is easier to move food items outside Africa than to distribute it within the continent due to inconsistencies in trade laws. The implementation of the Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement will go a long way and must be implemented with or without the so-called big trading blocs, as that will go a long way in helping us identify those relevant areas of improvement without delay. More so, it is difficult to pay for goods and services across African nations since different currencies are in use. I advise regional leaders to agree on this in ensuring that the mode of payment(s) is uniform. Countries of Africa should strive to maintain trade flows during the crisis to secure access to goods and services, such as medicine and healthcare, and other essential items such as farm inputs. This will require keeping borders open to the largest extent possible and avoiding measures such as export bans, taxes or tariffs. This will go a long way in streamlining unnecessary trade procedures and supporting transport and logistic services in maintaining cross-border and international value chains. By the collaboration, countries of Africa can implement coordinated trade measures that could result in better responses to the crisis. Hence, joint actions, which include bilateral co-operation on border management, joint information campaigns, coordinated purchasing of medical equipment, partnering on re-purposing production to produce medical goods, and management of health specialists to deal with emerging hotspots on the continent becomes necessary.

We must also not forget that some SSA countries and economic communities are already doing this. For instance, the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa, the East African Community and the South Africa Development Community countries have taken steps in reducing trade barriers, and countries are beginning to discuss practical solutions to navigate trade impediments. Knowledge platforms on professional and tourism services are good examples of tools for translating policy recommendations into action. For example, the East Africa Tourism Platform has shown leadership in championing a coordinated approach to enhance the region’s travel and tourism competitiveness. Such platforms were designed for practitioners, policy-makers and regulators to engage in meaningful dialogue about the critical issues that are currently transforming these services in SSA countries.

Finally, I will add that cooperation initiatives are necessary in increasing regulatory capacities that African governments need to build over time, to engage in meaningful liberalisation efforts.

Ehime Alex
Ehime Alex
Ehime Alex reports the Capital Market, Energy, and ICT. He is a skilled webmaster and digital media enthusiast.

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