Africa’s food security has taken heavy blows in recent years amid the effects of climate change and global supply chain disruptions related to the Covid-19 pandemic and conflicts beyond its borders. The pandemic was reported to have pushed an estimated 30 million people into extreme poverty and rendered 22 million jobless in 2021 alone. Like the Russia-Ukraine war before it, the current conflict in the Middle East has set off the panic alarm about an unfolding food crisis in Africa. The blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, a key waterway where close to a third of the world’s oil shipments and 20 per cent of liquefied natural gas (LNG) pass, has disrupted fertiliser and food supply chains and sparked fears of skyrocketing food prices for a continent that imports most of its food.
But there is also a sense that Africa could see the latest crisis out. Being on the receiving end of a permacrisis appears to have taught Africa to build resilience in its own agriculture and wean itself off food imports. The continent registered a fairly strong economic growth post Covid, demonstrating a remarkable resilience. It is noteworthy that agriculture contributes at least a fifth to the gross domestic product (GDP) in Africa.
The post-Covid period has also coincided with some of the most significant food security milestones ever recorded on the continent. Ethiopia declared itself self-sufficient in wheat around 2023 after four years of implementing a government initiative involving distribution of climate-resilient seeds and expansion of irrigation and mechanisation. Under the ambitious programme supported by organisations like the African Development Bank, Ethiopia produced 23 million tonnes of wheat during the 2023/2024 harvest season, underlining its aspirations to achieve food self-sufficiency and become Africa’s breadbasket. Tanzania, meanwhile, announced in 2024 that it had reached 128 per cent food security and was exporting surplus to neighbouring countries.
The food security reawakening isn’t restricted to the public sector, with African private investors also pulling their weight. Last year, Africa’s wealthiest man Aliko Dangote announced plans to build one of the continent’s largest fertiliser plants in Ethiopia. At 3 million tons, the $2.5 billion feritliser plant’s projected annual production capacity in three years’ time would see it ranked among the world’s five largest. The Dangote-backed Ethiopian fertiliser plant would be his second major food security investment on the continent after the one in his home country Nigeria, which opened commercial operations in 2022.
Africa’s potential to achieve food security has never been in doubt. It boasts 60 per cent of the remaining uncultivated, arable land worldwide and the world’s youngest workforce. The rising flow of private sector investment to complement the ambitious food security programmes of countries like Ethiopia and Tanzania gives hope that the continent could feed itself in our lifetime.
Another reason to be hopeful about the future of Africa’s agriculture is the changing mindset about the sector among its young people. The average age of a farmer in African countries is reported to be around 50, with the youth largely keeping away from agriculture due to the drudgery of the traditional farming chores. The image of a farmer on the continent has been a pessimistic depiction of a man or woman doing backbreaking work such as tilling with a hoe.
The low participation of the continent’s largest and most energetic and innovative population is often blamed for the low farm productivity. But with technologies like digitisation and mechanisation increasingly making farming lucrative, the narrative is changing. More young people are looking beyond primary production to see other opportunities across value chains. They are also behind some of the most transformative food systems innovations in Africa.
If the agricultural innovation momentum is sustained, Africa could realise its food security dream earlier than most projections show it would.
Banner photo credit: CGIAR
