How a meeting in Rome sabotaged Africa’s food supply capability

In the 21st century, the African continent imports agricultural resources and products including seeds, pesticides and food from the Global North, which it used to supply in the olden days. This is no longer the case, and as people grapple with whether the situation will ever be reversed or even levelled, the lingering questions that emerge are; what changed? When did it change? What happened? Why did it happen?

According to United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), Africa as a continent today imports 85 per cent of its food.

Prof. Fadhel Kaboub, an Economist from Denison University in the United States and the President of the Global Institute for Sustainable Prosperity, says Kenya’s total import currently is about USD 25 billion (Ksh.3.7 trillion) while its exports totals about USD 12 billion (Ksh.1.7 trillion). Prof. Kaboub notes that of the total exports, more than USD 1 billion (Ksh.149 billion) is for tea, not a food crop, and that Kenya also exports massive amount of cut flowers to European consumers.

He further states that Ethiopia too exports massive amount of cut flowers yet they have 20 million people who are dependent on food aid from abroad, which is not kind of a balance that gives Africans sovereignty and economic stability; instead, it is one of the major economic deficiencies that the continent is suffering.

According to Prof. Kaboub, Africa’s food supply glory died with a single meeting in Rome by the Global North in the 50s.

“Africa used to be ‘the bread basket’ for the world in the colonial times, where the continent was blessed with vast natural resources, fertile soil and water resources. Unfortunately, as soon as our countries became independent, there was a meeting in Rome in 1955 where the major subject for discussion was how to eliminate over dependence on food supply by the African continent,” he says.

“The meeting bore a series of conversations that eventually led to a decision of building a bloc with a common agricultural policy in 1962 by the Global North which is still in place to this day. The countries in the bloc include US, Canada, Japan, Australia, Ukraine, Russia, which are the major food producers that invested heavily in subsidizing the agriculture and subsidizing food crops in Agriculture in their respective countries.”

History records show that the then move by the bloc disadvantaged African farmers who used to produce in bulk foods like wheat, corn, soy beans and barley for export as they couldn’t compete with much cheaper produce from the Global North.

“Our farmers were forced to quit producing and move to urban areas, from being skilled farmers to unskilled labor in the urban areas. The other choice they had was to switch crops to start producing what we call cash crops for export that created a snow ball effect, it created disaster in this continent, which is once you have started producing for export, you have to meet taste for your consumers,” he explained.

The practice meant that farmers had to start producing items which are not necessarily arable with the soil and climate, meaning farmers had to gradually import powerful genetically modified seeds, which implies importing matching stronger fertilizers and pesticides that destroy several acres of soils. 

The African continent is currently struggling with food security to feed its population due to harsh weather conditions like prolonged droughts and floods due to climate change, human activities like use of imported stronger chemicals and fertilizers and soil overuse to produce the same crop, which ends up destroying the farm fertility.

Prof. Kaboub however says that it is possible for Africa to restore its agricultural produce glory despite the climate change effects and other challenges. But first working local, national and regional agricultural policies must be in play.

“The policies we follow now are essentially imported from abroad to compliment or supplement the European agricultural wealth,” he states.

According to him, investment in food sovereignty is an economic development solution to the economic crisis the African continent has, and simultaneously it is a climate solution because when you are investing in agriculture using native seeds as opposed to foreign seeds that need massive amount of water, you are actually investing in more resilient food systems that allow you to restore the quality of your soil.

The Denison University don has challenged African governments and agricultural ministries to invest in water infrastructure and technology to help in containing the little or much water during the unpredictable weather conditions.

“If you have less predictable rainfall, it means we have to rely more on irrigation, and when we receive the massive rainfalls during the wrong time of the season, majority of it goes to waste. If we save the water for later use, we will nourish our agricultural practices as a continent and we will never have food challenge to feed our people and the world at large,” he stated.

October 16, 2023 was the 44th commemoration of World Food Day. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), a specialized agency of the United Nations, first marked the day in 1945. It took another 34 years before it got recognized as a world holiday at the 20th FAO conference in November 1979.

World Food Day serves as a reminder of the importance of food security for all humanity and emphasizes on the United Nations Development goal number two of eradicating hunger by the year 2030.The popularity of the day has been used by different stakeholders to promote the idea of feeding the world and eliminating poverty more so in the developing nations.

The day focused on the need to put in place attainable farming practices, equality in food distribution and readily available nutritious food for everyone, with the 2023 theme being: ‘Water is Food. Water is Life. Leave no one behind.’