Improved intra-Africa trade crucial for achieving food security — AGRA

Africa cannot achieve food security without improving intra-continent trade, according to a senior official of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) who was speaking at the recent 2023 Africa Day for Food and Nutrition Security Commemoration and the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Program (CAADP) Partnership Platform meeting in Lusaka, Zambia.
Organized by the African Union and the African Union Development Agency, the CAADP meeting was held under the theme ‘Accelerating the Implementation of the Africa Continental Free Trade Area Agreement in the Context of CAADP Commitments for Safer and Healthier Diets’. Daniel Njiwa, the Director of Inclusive Trade, Markets and Finance at AGRA, told the meeting that Africa cannot ensure food system resilience if “our trade is not functioning very well.” AGRA is an Accra-based organization that seeks to transform African agriculture from a subsistence model to strong businesses that improve the livelihoods of the continent’s farming households.
“Trade will remain the lubricant for conversations around food systems. It encourages producing in a diversified fashion where you can easily meet food security and nutritional targets,” Njiwa said, adding that intra-Africa trade can additionally help spur economic growth and markets if it is pursued aggressively. He also called for increased attention on women and the youth so they can play a part in improving food security in Africa. “Women and youth are the most important players in agriculture. They are involved in moving over 80% of food traded in Sub-Saharan Africa,” he said. CAADP is the Agenda 2063 continental initiative that aims to help African countries eliminate hunger and reduce poverty by raising economic growth through agriculture-led development.