Africa looks to redefine its agrifood system

African experts and government officials are seeking measures to redefine and boost the continent's development in the agrifood sector.

At a three-day African Union meeting, which ended on Saturday, efforts were made to seek to transform Africa's agrifood system and review the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Program, the continent's blueprint plan to fast-track agriculture development.

Kidi Mwaga, a Kenyan law advocate, said that recently Africa has witnessed promising transformation in the agricultural sector with farmers increasingly using innovative approaches and scientific research, combined with traditional knowledge, to increase the productivity of their fields, diversify their crops, boost their nutrition, and build climate resilience.

"Most African countries already have a set of instruments to speed up transformation of agrifood systems and rural development. With agriculture at the center of the continent's economic transformation, Africa has the potential to become a global agricultural powerhouse and a net exporter of food," Mwaga said.

He added that Africa has the potential to transform its socio-economic conditions with agriculture being a main driver of the continent's economic transformation. Despite the potential in Africa's agrifood sector, Mwaga said that Africa needs to address its infrastructure gap, which impacts agriculture as significantly as it does other sectors.

"Poor railway networks, roads, and port infrastructure have stood in the way of agricultural development in Africa by hindering farmers from being able to get their goods to market. This ends up adding almost 30 to 40 percent to the cost of agricultural goods traded among African countries," Mwaga said.

Speaking during the meeting, Robinah Nabbanja, Uganda's prime minister, urged African countries to work together to implement the policy proposals that they have come up with. She pointed out that it is deplorable that the continent, which is endowed with arable land and water bodies, relies on food imports from elsewhere in the world.

"As the continent's agricultural sector leaders and experts, I urge you to deliberately work to reduce Africa's over-reliance on food imports from outside the continent. We must position the continent in such a manner that our agricultural sector is resilient to climate change as well as other shocks and is adaptive to advances in technology," Nabbanja said.

On the other hand, Appolinaire Djikeng, the director of the International Livestock Research Institute, pointed out that strong collaboration and greater investments in agriculture by African governments has the ability to bring lasting change in Africa's agrifood systems.

"The food systems transformations and food systems challenges have demonstrated that one country or organization cannot do it alone. It is about a coalition, and we need to see that part strengthened. We would like to see governments investing in the development of agriculture and building capacities so that we have people who are trained, and we have the right policies in place," Djikeng said.