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Zvamaida Murwira-Senior Reporter
The Pan African Parliament has constituted a fact-finding mission to assess the impact of the sanctions-induced fertiliser shortage and its effect on food security in Africa, as the continental body pushes towards food self-sufficiency.
Bureau of the PAP led by Zimbabwe Council of Chiefs president, Fortune Charumbira and four Vice Presidents representing African regions met to discuss ways in which the organisation can play to mitigate shortage of fertiliser which has triggered reduced agriculture yields.
The resolution by PAP Bureau come as President Mnangagwa is in Senegal, attending the Dakar II Feed Africa Summit where he joined at least 20 other African Heads of State, development partners and private sector financing leaders for the high-level discussions on roadmaps for achieving food sovereignty on the continent. Running under the theme “Feeding Africa: Food Security and Resilience”, the summit is organised by the African Development Bank (AfDB) Group and will be held at the Abdou Diouf International Conference Centre (CICAD) in Diamnadio, with over 1 500 delegates expected to attend.
The gathering will showcase programmes already contributing to African food sovereignty and resilience.
In making the resolution, PAP noted that the conflict in Russia and Ukraine have had a global impact on vulnerable populations especially in Africa.
The bureau strongly condemned the sanctions imposed on Africa, including Zimbabwe, affecting food security and demanded that those that imposed sanctions should lift them immediately as they are impacting Africa’s vital food supply chain.
“Bureau of the Pan-African Parliament (PAP) consisting of the President of the Parliament and four Vice Presidents representing the five regions of Africa on Tuesday resolved to immediately set up a fact-finding mission to assess the impact of current sanction-related fertiliser shortages on food security in Africa,” reads the statement from PAP.
“Concerned that the conflict in Ukraine and Russia has had a global impact on vulnerable populations especially in Africa causing fertiliser prices in Africa to go up by 300 percent, the bureau noted that the continent would face a fertiliser shortage of about 2 million metric tonnes due to restrictions on shipping, banking, insurance and other related goods transactions logistics.
“This will result in diminished access by African farmers to the global fertiliser market with potential catastrophic consequences in Africa in 2023 if not mitigated.
“According to the African Development Bank, food production in Africa will decline by at least 20 percent and the continent could lose over $11 billion in food production value.”
PAP Bureau further called for the lifting of illegal sanctions imposed on Russia and other African nations that include Zimbabwe, arguing it had an adverse impact on Africa’s food value chain.
“It resolved to call upon the people of Africa and its leaders to step up and fight for the right of African people, especially to stop the unilateral decisions on the fate and future of Africa without consulting Africa which was inherited from its former colonial powers,” reads the resolution.
PAP resolved to create a platform where all the stakeholders will debate and discuss how to handle the African food security issues and send delegation to Russia, Ukraine, the US, Germany and France among other countries.
The bureau recalled that African Leaders in 2014, through the Malabo Declaration and its implementation strategy and roadmap, committed themselves to halve poverty and end hunger by 2025 by increasing agricultural investment to at least 10 percent of government budgets, encouraging women and youth in agricultural businesses and boosting intra-African agricultural trade.
Others members of the PAP Bureau include Professor Massouda Mohamed Laghdaf (Northern Region), Dr Ashebir Gayo, (Eastern Region), Mrs Lúcia M. dos Passos, (Western Region), and Mr Francois Ango Ndoutoume, (Central Region).
Meanwhile, Chief Charumbira is in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia for preparatory meetings for the 42nd Ordinary Session of the African Union summit that will draw Heads of State and Government in the continent next month.
The presence of PAP at AU marks its return to a full process of the AU summit following a two year absence where it was battling efforts to constitute a new Bureau whose election had been rocked by divisions along continental regions.
In the end, the AU stamped its authority and directed that the principle of rotation must apply in terms of the constitutive Act of the organisation and that saw Chief Charumbira eventually being elected.
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