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Traditional markets and small-format stores currently account for 80 to 90 percent of food retailing in African cities, according to a report.
The State of Africa Agriculture Report 2020 (AASR) was launched Tuesday at the African Green Revolution Forum (AGRF) virtual summit in Kigali, Rwanda.
The report says that small farmers reach urban food markets primarily through traditional wholesale markets. “The efficient functioning of these markets, therefore, becomes key to the access and competitiveness of small farmers,” the report reads.
Supermarket stocks, while currently small, are expected to rise in the coming decades.
While acknowledging the debilitating effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and its role in exacerbating existing economic and social inequalities, the report defines five focus areas in an attempt to overcome the problem of urban malnutrition and accelerate the urgency of planning the urban food system.
These focus areas include improving the governance of the urban food system; efficient urban wholesale markets; regulation and enforcement of food safety; regional harmonization of agricultural and free trade policies; and agricultural research focused on high-value, high-growth food products.
National food distribution systems, intra-African trade and food security are the other themes of the report that lead to the conclusion that improving the governance and performance of the urban food system can create new opportunities for Africa to transform its efforts farmers in prosperous businesses.
This year’s AASR focuses on feeding Africa’s cities by assessing the opportunities, challenges and policies needed to enable African farmers and agribusinesses to serve rapidly growing urban food markets.
The report seeks to find ways for smallholders to boost food security, rural prosperity and inclusive economic growth.
“This report highlights the opportunity for all stakeholders in the agriculture industry to bring together views that define the transformation agenda, while outlining practical next steps for an agricultural revolution,” said Agnes Kalibata, President of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA). .
The report began by outlining the opportunities that Africa’s urban food markets bring to the continent’s 60 million farms.
It indicates that cities shape Africa’s agribusiness environment by affecting agricultural production patterns and inducing the rapid expansion of food processing and distribution plans.
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“This year’s AASR shows that as the center of gravity of Africa’s agri-food systems shifts increasingly towards urban areas, it is becoming a cohort of new non-traditional actors, including town planners, mayors, councils of district, business organizations and public health professionals – key players in agricultural policy implementation, “said Andrew Cox, AGRA chief of staff and strategy.
The following chapters address the opportunities in Africa’s growing urban food markets, while recognizing that effective governance of urban food systems requires inclusive models that coordinate and harmonize the actions of the diverse actors that now shape African agri-food systems.
This is the first time in history that the AGRF has been held virtually, in line with the COVID-19 containment measures.
The theme of the Forum is Feed the Cities, Grow the Continent: Harnessing Urban Food Markets for Sustainable Food Systems in Africa, a call to action to rethink Africa’s food systems in delivering resilient, better-nourished outcomes. and more prosperous for all. .
