Why Africa’s continental goals for agriculture failed

In the next 10 years, the AU wants to mobilise $100 billion in public and private sector investment in African agrifood systems by 2035.

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The African Union says member states may have to repeat goals set nearly a decade ago to ensure food security for the continent as a result of unimplemented policies.

Meeting in Kampala last week, the policymakers and experts cited a variety of reasons for failed goals, including a lack of political will, insecurity, climate change-related disasters as well as economic ruin from disease outbreaks, among reasons agricultural goals were unmet.

The leaders met to discuss the food security targets made in the Malabo Declaration under the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP).

And they said unexpected shocks forced member states to divert their national budgets towards ramping up security, drought mitigation, economic stimuli and health (Covid-19) mitigation. Consequently, agriculture and food security were left exposed.

As such, in the just concluded CAADP Kampala, the African Union (AU) wanted member states to re-commit to the declaration: That at least 10 percent of their annual national budgets be allocated to agriculture and food production to combat food insecurity. This commitment was first made in the Malabo Declaration in 2015.

At the 2015 Malabo CAADP conference, the AU hoped to ramp up each of member states’ agriculture contribution to aggregate gross domestic product (GDP) by at least six percent. This contribution to GDP was expected to create employment for 30 percent of youth and women in the continent.

Despite Africa’s robust agricultural potential, the continent still suffers food insecurity, with some countries and region exposed to starvation after the worst drought in 40 years ravaged a larger part of the sub-Sahara Africa.

Lost livestock

According to the African Union Inter Africa Bureau for Animal Resources (AU-Ibar), the Greater Horn of Africa lost 9.5 million livestock in during the 2018 – 2023 drought, livestock worth an estimated value of over $2 billion, highlighting the vulnerability of Africa’s feed and fodder systems and the genetic losses incurred.

“The other losses that are never factored in, are the genetic losses. The average recovery time for one lost livestock is 40 years,” Dr Benoit Gnonlonfin, the global programme lead for sanitary and phytosanitary at the Centre for Agriculture and Biosciences International told the AU-Ibar plenary at CAADP Kampala on Thursday last week.

Other regions of the African continent have also suffered losses due to drought and, increasingly, floods. The effect of climate disasters on the feed and fodder sector has been further compounded by Covid-19 and the Russia-Ukraine conflict, which disrupted regional and global feed and fodder supply chains, driving up production costs.

“Over 60 percent of Africa’s population is involved in agriculture, we have the largest arable land globally and more fresh water. Yet with these, we still face shortage in food and nutritional value,” Uganda’s Prime Minister Robinna Nabanjja told the delegation in her opening speech.

To plug the food deficit, the continent has to heavily rely on costly importation from other continents.

Food imports

In 2021, Africa’s total food import value was over $100 billion, according to the African Development Bank (AfDB).

The AfDB reports that the majority of the imports were in form of processed and value-added foods, some of which, raw materials were sourced from Africa and re-exported after value addition. Even with this spending on imports, Africa still suffers food insecurity.

Though the Kampala declaration re-emphasised the budgetary allocation for agriculture, it has come at a time the continent now faces increased frequency of shocks.

For example, in 2015 the African Union wanted to ensure at least 30 percent of farmers and households are insulated against climate-related shocks. The Kampala declaration raised that to 40 percent households to be protected from shocks by 2035.

“We appreciate seeing the factoring in of one health approach that will address the issue of animal welfare, environmental and animal health.

“Now research needs to be deployed towards these to ensure we achieve the new set goals of Kampala CAADP,” Dr Felix Njeumi, the United Nations Global Secretary at Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) told The EastAfrican. 

In 2015, the AU also intended to support the operationalisation of the African Investment Bank to ramp up financing for agriculture on the continent to improve food security. The financing hopes to double agricultural activity by focusing on farm inputs, irrigation and mechanisation.

In the next 10 years, the AU wants to mobilise $100 billion in public and private sector investment in African agrifood systems by 2035.

In December 2024, experts in livestock sector drawn from commodities exchanges, technocrats and livestock farmers in Nigeria raised $225 million to support the livestock sector in Africa amid cries of financial models that do not support the livestock and feed and fodder sector.