Africa foresees rapid expansion of agricultural production

 Berlin- African Union (AU) Commissioner Josefa Correia Sacko said in Berlin that the transformation agenda for Africa's food systems outlined rapid expansion of agricultural production and productivity to ensure access to nutritious food for the continent.

The African diplomat, who was speaking at the Global Forum on Food and Agriculture (GFFA), taking place on January 18-21, spoke of the importance of boosting financing for investment to strengthen and harness Africa's growing food market.

Josefa Sacko underlined that priority areas call for targeting small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and the informal sector in agri-food value chains, especially those operated by women.

 "It is our collective responsibility to outline, define specific policies to ensure SMEs' access to technologies and innovation, better seeds, mechanisation, irrigation, digitalisation and access to information on inputs, prices, markets, climate and land use," Sacko said.

Josefa Sacko spoke of the importance of a fact-findings to aid strengthen the two-decade ambition of the African Union, to boost financing for public and private investment in agriculture, through the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) an initiative instituted by the African Heads of State and Government.

The fact-findings, the AU commissioner said, would require foreign funding to progressively move towards direct investments in the form of capital, technology transfer and market share.

 "We need more funding for public-private investment in specific infrastructure for agricultural and food systems, including rural roads, mobile technologies, water and power generation and distribution," Sacko  said.

 The Angolan diplomat added that initiatives to increase consumption of micronutrient-rich foods, such as biofortification of staple foods and industrial fortification and home school feeding are to be promoted and expanded.

Sacko said the African Union is focused on the promotion and enforcement of food safety standards in formal and informal markets.

Josefa Sacko pointed out as one of the main focuses of the AU intervention, the strengthening of national and regional research and development capacities for sustainable production, processing, marketing and consumption of traditional and indigenous food crops, which have proven to be climate resilient over the years.

 The AU commissioner acknowledged that the interconnected shocks of the Covid-19 pandemic, the worsening effects of climate change and conflicts, including the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war are aggravating a situation that endangers the goals of sustainable development by the year 2030.

She said despite the crisis, the African Union Commission and the Federal Republic of Germany have reached an agreement to expand and intensify cooperation on sustainable food systems. 

The agreement will focus on the global challenges of climate change, agriculture and agriculture-sensitive nutrition, transformation of food systems, agri-food processing standards, as well as strengthened partnerships between German and African actors in food systems.

 The Global Forum for Food and Agriculture (GFFA) is the leading international conference on key future issues facing global agriculture and the food industry. The event is hosted by the German Federal Ministry of Agriculture and takes place under the motto "Creating the future of food systems together".