Africa Seeks to Build Sustainable Agri-Food System for Prosperous Future, Nigerian Researcher Says

Africa seeks to build a sustainable agri-food system for a prosperous future, Acting Director of Research and Innovation at the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa Prof. Wole Fatunbi told Sputnik Africa, commenting on the African Union's 10-year plan to transform the continent's agri-food systems ensure food security.

"We now want a sustainable, resilient agri-food system for a healthy and prosperous Africa," the researcher said.

The Kampala Declaration on Building Resilient and Sustainable Agri-food Systems in Africa, adopted at the African Union extraordinary summit on the development of agriculture on the continent, emphasized the need to build the system based on past successes, Fatunbi noted.

"The focus is to have an equitable engagement that harmonizes every lesson we've learned, and we implement," he pointed out.

According to the professor, a broader food system approach, centered not only on agriculture, would address unresolved challenges that have hindered progress in Africa over the past two decades.

"One thing I want to bring to the fore in this discussion is the need to now look not only at agriculture but also to look at the food system component. And that gives us the opportunity to close all the loose ends that are preventing Africa from achieving its goal in the last 20 years," Fatunbi explained.

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Reframing Africa's Population Growth as Opportunity for Development

Africa should shift its perspective on population growth, viewing it as an opportunity rather than a disadvantage, the Nigerian professor said.

"Africa needs to have a change of mindset about our population growth. We should not begin to see it every time as a disadvantage, but rather as an opportunity to bring the continent up," the researcher pointed out.

This demographic trend, similar to that experienced by the Asian Tigers over the past 50–100 years, presents a chance to drive continental progress, he emphasized.

"It is population growth, as we have in Africa today, [that] is not unprecedented in the history of the world. In fact, most of the Asian Tigers in the last 50 to 100 years passed through that," the Fatunbi noted.

To meet the needs of a growing population, such as food, fiber, and housing, Africa must transform its smallholder agriculture system, which currently contributes to agrarian poverty due to land fragmentation, the professor added.

"I will say that specifically to provide food, fiber, accommodation, and all the rest for this envisaged growth in population. Africa must modify its smallholder system, smallholder agriculture system. You know, that's what we have now. Fragmentation of land or space is leading to or aggravating agrarian poverty," he said.

Prioritizing Infrastructure and Policy Enforcement for Regional Trade in Africa

Africa must focus on investing in infrastructure, particularly road networks, as seen in ECOWAS countries where progress has been made over the past decade, the professor noted.

"I know that ECOWAS is doing a lot of that on the road infrastructure that cuts across the coast of ECOWAS; countries have been there for more than a decade, and the different countries are going up," Wole Fatunbi pointed out.

However, some challenges remain, such as trade tariffs, border transportation issues, and delays in goods movement, the professor added.

"I would say infrastructure is number one, enforcement of the policies that are made already. It's also very, very important. It's going to be done at the regional level. And that must be supported and taken up," he concluded.