by SAVIOUS KWINIKA
CAPE TOWN, (CAJ News) – INSTEAD of beneficiating and adding value to its agricultural products, Africa continues to export raw materials and import finished items produced with those materials.
This is costing the continent jobs and much-needed foreign income.
That is the word of experts at the recent Standard Bank ‘Africa Unlocked’ conference in Cape Town, South Africa.
Experts used the example of Ghana, the second-largest global producer of cocoa beans, which exported an estimated 494 100 metric tonnes of the product in 2022, much of which is processed into chocolate in Switzerland.
Meanwhile, despite its abundant fertile land, Africa is importing food and, in 2021 alone, received more than R68 billion ($3,85 billion) in farm products from international sources.
Some experts could rationalise these imports by pointing to increased urbanisation and the continent’s rapidly growing cities.
However, the fact remains that Africa has 60 percent of the world’s uncultivated arable land and the unrealised capacity to become a global agricultural powerhouse.
Agriculture is an activity that occupies between 50 percent and 70 percent of Africa’s people, while its small-scale farmers produce 70 percent to 80 percent of its food.
Responding to the question if Africa can feed itself, a panel in the conference noted that, although the continent could be self-sufficient, it needed to face and resolve several crucial challenges.
These include the limited availability and accessibility of technology in an agricultural sector dominated by small-scale farmers.
There is also a lack of “common sense” legislation and policies to cover intra-African trade and exports, the production of GMO foods, the establishment of strong veterinary resources and the safety of foods and their movement across markets.
The panel comprised Craig Irvine (Irvine’s Group), Brian Lever (AGT Foods), Desire N’zi (Bühler Group) and Marvin Nii Adom Armah (Farmerline).
– CAJ News