Africa-Press – South-Africa. Africa is blessed with vast and fertile mineral resources, which are in abundance. However, the level of hunger on the continent is almost comparable to none, and the state of food insecurity is worsening day by day.
Johannes P.S. Sheefeni examines what is happening.
The continent of Africa faces many threats. These include economic pressures and decline in food security. Food security is described as a situation of not having access to affordable, nutritious and culturally appropriate food in a sufficient amount.
Africa is blessed with vast and fertile mineral resources, which are in abundance. However, the level of hunger on the continent is almost comparable to none, and the state of food insecurity is worsening day by day. This begs the question of whether land abundance automatically means food production. If the answer to that question is yes, why is Africa constantly faced with food insecurity? The same question can be posed if the answer is no.
Africa’s vulnerability
The recent special meeting on global food security held by the UN highlighted Africa’s vulnerability. The sad part is that the food insecurity which Africa faces is the result of outside forces, such as geopolitical events like the Russia-Ukraine conflict and others. This is because most countries on the continent, particularly in southern Africa, heavily rely on Russia and Ukraine for fertiliser, vegetable oils and wheat. The disruption of the trade in these items to Africa has caused an upsurge in prices which are already high in these countries.
This further implies that there will be limited supply stock for the said commodities after their flow has been disrupted. The situation seems to be getting worse with each meeting on food security matters.
Naturally, most of us are inclined to think that Africa should be able to produce and feed itself because of its vast, rich and fertile land. However, the status quo of continuous food insecurity does not seem to suggest so. Of course, one cannot take away the challenges of climate change. On the other hand, one is tempted to think that Africa has no means of production on a large scale that can secure food production and subsequently minimise food insecurity.
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The agricultural sector has evolved over the years to such an extent that modern agriculture has taken over. Developed countries practise modern agriculture while Africa did not move at the same pace as the evolution in that sector. Of course, one can list several reasons why Africa is playing catch-up, taking into account the history of the continent in this context. Therefore, it is not necessarily entirely Africa’s fault for finding itself in this position.
Developed countries have moved along with this evolution to such an extent that countries with less land are producing more for the export market than African countries do.
One cannot also ignore the fact that Africa, to a certain extent, misdirected its policy because of peer pressure to industrialise. As a result, there was a policy shift more directed towards the manufacturing sector, while paying little attention to the agricultural sector that had always been the backbone of the African economy. This resulted in Africa being highly dependent on the rest of the world for food.
Why is Africa importing?
It is only recently that countries on the continent have been reinvigorating the industrial policy that explicitly employs various industrial policy tools to promote industrialisation through agro-processing and high-value agriculture and tradable services.
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This begs the question: Why is Africa importing some of the items it could have in abundance given its vast and fertile land? It is an unresolved puzzle of why such a rich continent continues to experience hunger because of food insecurity.
African countries need to come together and work on actionable strategic agricultural policy decisions to increase the production of food. There is a need for Africa to have an intervention policy specifically for maximising food security and minimising food insecurity in order to end hunger on the continent.
One specific intervention is that of a workable solution on how to increase access to food. A combination of policy interventions mentioned would further increase self-reliance and self-sufficiency with little dependency on the rest of the world.
– Professor Johannes P.S. Sheefeni lectures in the Department of Economics at the University of the Western Cape. Although his research interest is rooted in the field of economics, he takes interest in policy issues affecting Africa.
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