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Food security and nutrition
Africa’s fast growing cities and food markets with turnover of up to $ 250 billion per year offer the largest and fastest growing market opportunity for the continent’s 60 million farms. But getting food to market from rural areas remains a challenge. Credit: Busani Bafana / IPS
– In Torit state, in southern South Sudan, Margaret Itto is one of the youngest country farmers in Africa who has invested heavily in agriculture. But it cannot access the lucrative market for its products in the capital Juba, simply because of bad roads.
“The road infrastructure in this country is a huge obstacle,” Itto said. “Bringing products from farms to stores and then to market is a big challenge. Many times my workers have had to sleep in the bush because their vehicle got stuck, ”he told IPS.
Itto, which grows peanuts, sunflowers, corn, beans and sesame, among other crops, has had to endure huge post-harvest losses, especially when it rains, as it makes roads impassable.
Margaret Itto (right) at her peanut farm in Torit, South Sudan. It has had to endure huge post-harvest losses, especially when it rains during the harvest season because improper roads make it difficult to get food to market. Credit: Isaiah Esipisu / IPS
In sub-Saharan Africa, 40 percent of staples they do not reach markets due to poor roads and market access limitations, according to the Food Sustainability Index (FSI) developed by the Economist Intelligence Unit and the Barilla Center for Food and Nutrition (BCFN).
To do this, importers have taken advantage of the demand by supplying low-quality food products to African cities. “Given our high cost of production, many urban dwellers end up consuming low-quality imported food because it is much cheaper than locally produced,” observed Dr. James Nyoro, Governor of Kiambu County in central Kenya.
Africa’s fast-growing cities and food markets with a turnover of up to $ 250 billion per year offer the largest and fastest-growing market opportunity for the continent’s 60 million farms, according to a new report published alongside with the ongoing virtual Africa Green Revolution Forum. But for African farmers to take advantage of the huge market opportunity, it is necessary to invest in non-urban road infrastructure, small and intermediate cities, improve the governance of urban food systems and food security regulations and enforcement, among other things.
The Africa Agriculture State Report (AASR), an annual report on the state of agriculture on the continent, produced by experts from the United Nations, various universities and the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), Among other institutions, it highlights five key priority areas that must be addressed.
“There will be a need to improve the governance of the urban food system, efficient urban wholesale markets, the regulation and enforcement of food safety, regional harmonization of agricultural and free trade policies, and agricultural research focused on high-growth food products. and value, ”said Prof. Rudy Rabbinge, emeritus professor of sustainable development and food security at Wageningen University and one of the lead authors of the report.
Rabbinge’s sentiments resonate with the findings of a report For the BCFN, the most critical challenge is weak governance structures, insufficient or scarce resources and capacity, lack of professional training, and persistent conflict and lack of coherence between sectors, actors and jurisdictions.
These challenges, according to the BCFN report, are recognized in the new global normative agendas for sustainable development agreed upon by national governments, but will have to be contextually relevant, locally adapted and with implementation efforts better supported in food governance.
Daniele Fattibene, a research scientist at the BCFN, told IPS that it is crucial to launch policies and initiatives to preserve food security in African urban areas. “COVID-19 has exposed many people in African urban areas to poverty and hunger. Most of those who were employed in odd jobs lost their jobs during the lockdown. While some have returned to rural areas where access to food was easier, others cannot choose this option, since they have already escaped violence or hunger, ”he said.
According to Andrew Cox, AGRA’s chief of staff and strategy, a cohort of new non-traditional actors, including town planners, mayors, district councils, business organizations and public health professionals, are becoming key players in the implementation of the agricultural policy. at a time when African agri-food systems are increasingly shifting to urban areas.
Fattibene echoed this, who believes that African mayors should invest in urban agriculture, as a way to shorten food chains and preserve them from sudden external shocks as a medium and long-term intervention.
“In this sense, local authorities should support small producers and SMEs to form cooperatives and encourage supermarkets and other grocery stores to source their products locally instead of importing them,” he said, adding that they should develop strategies customized to effectively map your food systems. taking as reference other cities in the Global South such as Quito in Ecuador, which has developed effective urban food resilience plans.
“This may allow the development[ment] of early warning tools to avoid food emergencies in urban areas, ”he told IPS.
The main road linking the town of Magwi with the town of Lobone on the border of South Sudan and Uganda. In sub-Saharan Africa, 40 percent of staple foods do not reach markets due to transportation infrastructure and limited access to markets. Credit: Isaiah Esipisu / IPS
The AASR report also offers an example from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where market access is the weakest in Africa, raising agricultural production costs and reducing the scope for profitable commercial and non-agricultural investments.
Another challenge has to do with cross-border trade policies. This was compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic, when countries around the world decided to restrict food exports due to the pandemic, exacerbating food insecurity, especially in urban areas in Africa.
Locally, restrictions on the Kenya-Tanzania border, for example, caused perishable food to go to waste during the height of the pandemic as truck drivers waited to clear with authorities on both sides.
However, the AASR authors are optimistic that the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) is moving forward and could mark a milestone in improved policy that allows scaling investment in production, processing and trade and much lower operating costs.
As cities continue to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, Fattibene says authorities should take steps to protect employees in informal sectors such as street food vendors in open-air markets, which were seriously affected by the crisis. , and also supporting children who depend on school meals as their main daily source of safe and nutritious food as an immediate short-term measure.
“To implement all these measures, additional funds will be needed for local authorities,” he said.
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