Tackling sub-Saharan Africa’s food security problem

THE agricultural sector in Africa is of crucial importance because it does not only feed people, also generates employment in many countries. Half of the people who work in Africa are in the agricultural sector.

However, since the Covid pandemic and the Ukraine war, the challenge of food security has become a global leadership issue. This is highlighted by its importance within the economic structure of every country.

Indeed, food security does not only arise in poor countries. It is now acknowledged that for both developing and developed countries, ensuring food security remains a major challenge.

In December 2016, at a conference on achieving agricultural transformation in Africa, Akinwumi Adesina, the President of the African Development Bank, highlighted the importance of the agricultural sector and the opportunities it presented. “Nobody smokes gas, nobody drinks oil, but everybody eats food,” he concluded.

One of the reasons the soldiers gave for their coup in Burkina Faso in September

2022 was linked to the country’s food crisis. Captain Ibrahima Traoré, the country's new strongman, said in an interview: “You have to go to the depths of Burkina to understand certain things. I patrol in the bush with my men. When you arrive, you find bruised populations. We want to get our people out of this misery, this insecurity.”

Indeed, Traoré had no trouble in leading his coup and seizing power. He had both the support of the army and the population, which he said were totally bruised by food insecurity.

Experts have pointed out that throughout history food insecurity was a major contributory factor in destabilising societies. This was the case of the Arab Spring in 2011, which followed a period of intolerable food inflation for the people.

Among the agricultural challenges facing Sub-Saharan African countries are climate change, rapid population growth, drought and the lack of infrastructure. Addressing the food security challenges facing the continent should be the highest priority for Africa’s political leaders.

Agriculture is a very complex sector, which is dependent on several other sectors. Successful development of the agricultural sector means having water, infrastructure for production and transport, electricity, and also control of all other inputs such as labour, technology and know-how. Such interdependence and the fluidity of some of resources needed for agricultural success, such as water and the climate, clearly show that food security is a global leadership challenge.

The ineffective implementation of agricultural policies and the failure of humanitarian aid led to major disasters, especially in conflict-affected countries. This has been shown consistently in several studies that have measured the impact of an effective agriculture policy on economic development.

Experts have noted that if African political leaders do not put the issue of food security at the centre of their sectoral policies, the continent will never achieve sustainable economic development. They also note that the Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAPs) in the 1980s failed in Africa because African leaders implemented them without really measuring the impact they would have on their societies and more particularly on farmers.

African policy makers blindly followed and applied the policies recommended (or imposed) by the World Bank and the US Treasury Department. Several countries in Sub-Saharan Africa began importing food following the implementation of these policies and many of them are now almost entirely dependent on food imports.

But experts agree that this situation could easily be avoided. They urged African leaders to invest massively in the agricultural sector, support small farmers and adopt nationalist economic policies, as some North African countries have done.

Experts have noted that African agriculture is one sector that has suffered the most from inappropriate policies. The late UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan, highlighted a fundamental element: political will.

There is a need for a new model that will change the dynamic of the entire sector. Sub-Saharan countries have failed in the implementation of agricultural policies that in many Sub-Saharan African countries today are the main reasons why they seem incapable of tackling global challenges such as food insecurity.

To move the agriculture sector forward in sub-Saharan Africa, governments must immediately start investing in small farmers and training them in the techniques and will support women and small farmers. Thus, to develop agriculture in Africa, inspirational leadership is required.

Also, conflict affected countries are more exposed to food insecurity. The Fund for Peace indicated in 2017 that in Africa were the top three fragile states in the world: the Central African Republic, Somalia and South Sudan.

Terrorism in West Africa, with Boko Haram in Nigeria and armed groups in Mali, Cameroon and Burkina Faso, has weakened agricultural activities. Clearly, this lack of security and political stability technologies of modern agriculture. Water is a fundamental element for successful agriculture, so particular emphasis should be placed on irrigation policy.

Infrastructure must also be built to develop rural agriculture, which also requires access to electricity. Finally, leaders must involve young people and women to take an interest in agriculture. Some countries, supported by the African Development Bank, have started to take initiatives of this kind and the establishment of the West African Power Pool is a very good scheme to achieve rural electrification.