East Africa’s poor agri-policies, conflicts, low investment blamed for continuing food insecurity

Africa’s continuing poor investments in agricultural production, including use of modern technology, are hurting the continent’s ambitions to feed itself, combined with a rising population that does held the situation, African top brains in food security recently gathering in Dar es Salaam were told.

Leaders and experts attending the Africa Green Revolution Forum in Tanzania’s commercial capital have been told that the low-level investment in agriculture is fueling continual food shortage in Africa, in what could indicate that lack of political will, rather than weather patterns or conflicts are directly at fault.

The Forum is the premier platform for advancing the agriculture and food systems agenda on the continent. The participants, including Tanzania’s President Samia Suluhu, Senegal’s President Macky Sall and Kenya’s President William Ruto, have been consistent in calling for huge investments in agriculture to ward off food insecurity caused by the prolonged droughts. This comes after a recent food market report attributed the rising food insecurity in the East African region to a combination of factors, including erratic food supply in the region, high prices due to shortfalls, high demand in importing countries and poor policies.

The East African Cross-Border Trade Bulletin, released July 2023, by The Market Analysis Sub-group of the Food Security and Nutrition Working Group, says the 2022 drought raised prices of grains as demand reduced supply. According to the report, for example, the share of maize in East Africa’s cross-border trade declined from 48% to 31% between Q1 and Q2 of 2023 as supplies tightened amid below-average production. It also notes that wars and violence in Sudan, South Sudan, Ethiopia and Somalia have added to the hunger problem.

“This is unprecedented. It has never been recorded that so many countries in Africa are experiencing hunger,” Mahboub Maalim, a special advisor from the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent, said. A recent study has called on East African countries to show more cooperation in addressing food security challenges that could likely get worse if unforeseen external crises continue to pop up and disrupt supply chains across the world.