Africa-Press – Angola. The African continent wastes around US$50 billion annually on importing foodstuffs with the potential to be produced locally, according to African Union Commissioner Josefa Sako.
The diplomat presented these data during the virtual presentation at the meeting promoted by the representatives of France and Italy in the United Nations agencies, held, Tuesday, from Rome, Italy.
The meeting raised, among other aspects, the possibility of creating an entity between the African Union and the European Union dedicated to supporting the production and processing of vegetable proteins in 15 AU Member States.
Josefa Sako argues that the high amounts spent on imports of basic necessities are enough to help reverse the current scenario of dependence and extreme poverty, especially in the Sub-Saharan part of the continent, provided they are saved to support local production, increase farmers’ incomes to achieve the desired food self-sufficiency.
The spirit and content of the African position, he stressed, are aligned with a view to transforming the continent’s agrarian system, as reflected in the Africa Comprehensive Agricultural Development Program (CAADP), which is expected to transform the sector to reach multiple objectives, with emphasis on poverty reduction, through the transition from subsistence farming to commercialization.
The strong potential of the agricultural sector to generate jobs at different stages of the value chain, that is, from primary production, logistics, processing and marketing must be seen as the best way to mitigate the concern of millions of unemployed young people, according to the senior UA official.
In his view, the United Nations Food Systems Commonwealth Cup sees the cultivation of traditional and indigenous products as the best way to change the negative situation in which countries find themselves without.
The materialization of this goal, in the opinion of the official, will depend on joint work, the elaboration of programs and the implementation of activities by the Member States aimed at the production and use of vegetable proteins for human consumption, the manufacture of animal feed and for industrial purposes. .
According to him, sub-Saharan Africa is the part of the continent where hunger is increasing in different regions, where it is estimated that 20 percent of the population has malnutrition problems due to the impact of climate change and Covid-19.
“This reality has already pushed 20 to 30 million people into extreme poverty. Most countries are far from meeting the goal of ending all forms of hunger and achieving deforestation by 2030, let alone fulfilling the Malabo Determination 2013”, he advanced.
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