Sep 06, 2018 | News

Africa can feed and nourish itself

“Africa can feed and nourish itself,” Dr Ibrahim Mayaki, NEPAD Agency’s CEO declared in his address at the EAT Forum in Stockholm,   Sweden. Dr Mayaki also brought to the fore the fact that African agriculture has been making significant progress over the last three decades, adding that, “For the African continent to feed itself we need to act by supporting smallholder farmers, linking farmers to local markets and promoting regional integration.”

During a press briefing with journalists from the Agenda 2063 Media Network, Dr Mayaki pointed out that the transformation of food systems needs to be nutrition sensitive. He made the case for supporting smallholder farmers by maintaining that they represent the great majority in rural African communities. In some countries they produce up to 90% of the food consumed at the national level. “Therefore, increasing their capacity to produce more nutritious food can help address the issues of stunting, food security and malnutrition,” Dr Mayaki said.

The third goal of Africa’s Agenda 2063 envisions a continent with healthy and well-nourished citizens. If Africa embarks on an agro-industrialisation journey by continuing to create conditions for private sector engagement in agriculture, opening up continental markets with the operationalisation of the continental free trade agreement, and by closing the loop of the $35 billion of imports of foods, the continent will be in a position to feed itself.

“How we switch food from being the major driver of some of our greatest global health and environmental challenges to instead becoming a powerful tool for tackling and preventing them is one of the most critical issues of our time,” said Dr Gunhild Stordalen, Executive Chair and Founder of EAT.

Dr Stordalen also stated that, “The annual forum brings together experts and leaders who confront these challenges head-on based on the latest science, asking difficult but necessary questions that will have us radically rethinking our approach to food systems. Despite trade-offs, there are multiple synergies and potential mutual benefits that could be unlocked by an integrated food system approach.”

The EAT Stockholm Food Forum of 2018 brought together over 600 participants from science, politics, business and civil society from over 50 countries. The forum explored a range of solutions available for achieving healthy and sustainable diets for a growing global population. Some of the hard questions tackled head on included, how to feed the world with zero land expansion and ocean depletion, and the benefits of processed foods and clean meat, with emphasis on stepping out of the comfort zone.

Source: NEPAD Agency