By Gert Grobler
The Covid-19 pandemic has had an unprecedented negative impact on the health and nutrition of Africa’s population, and also on its economies, livelihood and agriculture sector.
According to the AU and international organisations such as the UN’s Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO), it affected food systems in many ways by disrupting the input and output markets, as well as the production of the various commodities mostly undertaken by smallholder farmers consisting of mainly women and youth.
The effect on Africa’s food systems has also been compounded by other shocks in this period, such as locust outbreaks, extreme weather patterns due to climate change, and rising security challenges in various parts of the continent.
The current conflict in Ukraine could also add to the increased risks of food security as it is likely to lead to disruptions to the agricultural activities of two major exporters of staple commodities.
This could seriously escalate food insecurity globally, particularly in poorer developing countries in Africa, when international food and input prices are already high. In view of the fact that African governments have consistently believed that agriculture has a pivotal role to play in development, Africa adopted the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) in 2003, a framework to improve agricultural productivity, increase investment, improve co-ordination, share knowledge and promote co-ordination in the agricultural sector.
The CAADP urges all stakeholders to take urgent action in preserving the gains made in the agricultural sector, particularly among the poor and vulnerable in the area of food security and nutrition.
The Covid-19 pandemic, however, slowed Africa’s progress towards the achievement of the laudable CAADP goals and sharply exacerbated existing challenges while presenting new ones. Regaining momentum in increasing the pace of CAADP implementation remains a top priority for the AU.
To give further momentum to this process, the AU recently also decided to make nutrition, under the heading “Building resilience in nutrition on the African continent”, its theme of the year for 2022.
The overriding objective strongly emphasises the importance of nutrition, especially child nutrition, as a major pillar in human capital development and social and economic transformation in Africa.
This initiative, therefore, reflects the urgency in building a resilient agriculture sector as the mainstay of African economies to fast-track the development agenda of the continent. Africa faces many agricultural challenges.
The continent has about 930 million hectares of land suitable for agricultural production – an area greater than that of the entire US. Agriculture is a major source of income for most of the rural population of vast parts of Africa, and accounts for more than half of total employment.
But for many reasons, the great potential for African agriculture has yet to be realised. Challenges such as poor infrastructure and energy supply, lack of access to modern technology, scientific farming methods and finance, as well as the detrimental impact of climate change and conflicts all continue to impede agricultural progress.
As a result, Africa generally is probably one of the most food insecure regions globally. According to the World Bank, the FAO, etc, approximately 250 million Africans faced under-nutrition in 2019, and in many parts it is getting worse. Africa is, in fact, becoming more, not less, dependent on food imports.
An “agricultural revolution” is needed with enhanced modernisation, seeking solutions through technology, mechanisation and increased productivity.
African countries are, therefore, calling for more international resources, technology, and development lessons to help promote their agricultural sector.
China, with its phenomenal economic and agricultural reform and achievements, has prioritised investment in agricultural development and food security.
The international community welcomed the statement by President Xi Jinping at the recent Two Sessions meeting in Beijing, during which he stressed the need for unrelenting efforts to ensure food security, and that “there must be no lapse of attention on the issue of food security”.
Africa has noted China’s economic progress and views China as a natural partner and potent “catalyst for change” in helping countries on the continent to turn resource advantages into developmental progress.
Africa attaches great importance to its mutually beneficial agricultural co-operation with China, which has rapidly grown, establishing a solid foundation for practical co-operation.
Agricultural trade between China and Africa has grown apace, with an average annual growth rate of between 15 and 20%. China has also significantly boosted its direct investment in Africa’s agricultural sector, with the Chinese private sector playing an increasingly prominent role.
At the highly constructive Eighth Ministerial Conference of the Forum on China-Africa Co-operation (Focac) in Dakar last year, President Xi Jinping announced nine major co-operation plans, which included agricultural development and modernisation on the continent.
At present, these efforts focus on funding agricultural co-operation programmes, establishing agricultural technology demonstration centres, dispatching Chinese experts to Africa and carrying out capacity-building activities that are bound to be further expanded.
Significant additional actions steps announced in Dakar include:
◉ The two sides will actively enhance the role of the China-Africa agricultural co-operation mechanisms, to innovate co-operation methods, enrich the strategic content of co-operation, and ensure the effective implementation of agricultural co-operation.
◉ The joint implementation of youth technical and vocational training focusing not only on agronomic expertise, but also on operational, management and entrepreneurial skills.
◉ China and Africa will continue to share experiences in job creation and poverty reduction through agriculture.
◉ China will assist in enhancing Africa’s capacity for localised processing of agro-products and will actively expand the import of quality speciality agri-food products from Africa and open “green lanes” for African agricultural exports to China, including the exciting “Centre for E-commerce in Agricultural Products”.
◉ The two sides will further strengthen food security co-operation by utilising the China-AU co-ordination mechanism for Belt and Road co-operation. China and Africa have identified a growing number of opportunities for future agricultural co-operation, and the two sides will continue to work to effectively align China’s agricultural achievements and reforms with Africa’s own agricultural development plans and policies.
◉ Furthermore, to ensure the concrete implementation of the decisions contained in the Focac Dakar Action Plan, which will significantly assist in unleashing African countries’ huge potential in agricultural development in support of the AU’s CAADP, the UN Sustainable Development Goals and Agenda 2063 towards a “better Africa”
* Ambassador Grobler is a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Africa Studies, Zhejiang Normal University, Jinhua, China.