Africa-Press – Guinee Bissau. More than half of West African countries have a 90% dependency rate on exports of primary products, petroleum, mining and agricultural products in particular, said Thursday in Dakar , the coordinator of the specialized agencies of the United Nations in Senegal, Aminata Maïga.
“Our West African sub-region is characterized by its heavy reliance on commodity production and exports. More than half of our countries have rates of dependence of more than 90% on exports of primary products, oil, mining and agricultural products in particular », she pointed out during a regional meeting of intergovernmental organizations of West Africa.
« Promoting regional value chains and food security to strengthen regional integration and sustainable development in West Africa » is the theme of this two-day meeting.
It is organized by the sub-regional office for West Africa of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa.
The World Food Programme, the Economic Community of West African States and the Interstate Committee for Drought Control in the Sahel are represented at this meeting.
West Africa is « depriving itself of opportunities for income and job creation » because of its dependence on the production and export of primary products, according to Ms. Maïga.
This dependence is “associated with the weakness of its industrial fabric, which should have served […] as a basis for the processing of products, especially agricultural and mining products”, she pointed out.
The director of the sub-regional office for West Africa of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, Ngoné Diop, believes that Africa is endowed with significant resources, including 60% of the world’s arable land.
These resources must be used to “propel sustainable development”, through green agriculture, “spearhead of economic diversification”, according to Ms. Diop.
La CEA s’est fortement impliquée, depuis 2020, dans la suspension du service de la dette, a-t-elle dit. « Cela a permis aux pays africains d’accéder aux ressources financières leur permettant de répondre au mieux aux impératifs de sécurité alimentaire. »
Ngoné Diop a relevé « la dépendance importante de nos pays » vis-à-vis de la Russie et de l’Ukraine en matière d’approvisionnement en céréales.
Plus de la moitié des pays d’Afrique de l’Ouest dépend de ces deux pays, concernant les céréales, selon la directrice du bureau sous-régional pour l’Afrique de l’Ouest de la Commission économique des Nations unies pour l’Afrique.
« Some countries, including Senegal and Benin, import more than 20% of their fertilizers from these two countries (Russia and Ukraine) », she said, believing that this dependence creates a trade deficit for the West African countries and a « narrowing of their tax base ».
“There is a food crisis. We can’t feed our people,” said Ngoné Diop. According to her, when we cannot meet the food needs of our populations, poverty gains ground.
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