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Russia’s war with Ukraine and the worldwide shift toward national priorities has pushed African leaders to focus on food self-sufficiency, the head of a United Nations’ body said.
From increased wheat production in Ethiopia and rice output in West Africa continental leaders are more alive to the threat posed by global trade disruptions than they were previously, said Alvaro Lario, president of the International Fund for Agricultural Development.
“How reliable are those global food chains?,” Lario, whose fund won US$1,4 billion in its latest replenishment round, said in an interview in Cape Town.
“That’s why certain leaders are feeling more local.”
The invasion of Ukraine in 2022 crimped global wheat supplies from the Black Sea region, on which many African countries rely and caused a spike in fertiliser prices.
US President Donald Trump has threatened to place tariffs on crop imports while China has imposed a levy on imports of US agricultural produce.
“National interest in many countries is taking a priority,” he said.
“It’s not the most constructive environment in which to see increased trade flows.”
Africa’s annual food imports are projected to reach $110 billion this year and its agricultural trade deficit stood at US$36,3 billion in 2021, according to the African Development Bank.
Lario urged African nations to not only grow more crops but to also increase purchases from their neighbors.
“There’s a lot of choices for leaders to make. Where do you want to be food sovereign, where do you want to be self-sufficient?,” he said. “How is it reasonable to import from the other end of the world?” — Bloomberg.
Online Reporter