Africa Cannot Feed Itself 'if It Cannot Fully Speak for Itself': Malawian Expert
Africa Cannot Feed Itself 'if It Cannot Fully Speak for Itself': Malawian Expert
Africa "needs to wake up" to its own strengths—from fertilizer and seed to staple food and fuel—as countries "take over value chains," cut import bills, and "leverage each other" to negotiate as one continent, Chikondi Chabvuta-Mkawa, chairperson of the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Program Non-State Actors Group, told Sputnik Africa.
"Then we can also have this opportunity of not just talking sovereignty but of it being a lived reality," she emphasized.
El Niño
As a major El Niño approaches—bringing drought to southern Africa and floods to the east—success will depend on whether governments' commitments are financed and prioritized "both at the national and the district or any other sub-national level," Chabvuta-Mkawa explained.
Climate crisis
Although Africa played no role in causing the climate crisis, its "farmers pay the price first," she said, noting that resilience must be the foundation, and governments, non-state actors, and organizations must push for adaptation finance and work together.
"Working in isolation has gotten us nowhere. So let's try an alternative of having to work together."
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