Spurred by conflict crises that interrupt agricultural activities and climate change that is compromising food production, efforts to make Africa self-sufficient in food are achieving tangible results. Some are technological breakthroughs; others are regulatory and trade reforms. All must be focused on Africa’s primary food producers: the small farmers.

A small farmer is defined as a farmer who produces on less than one hectare of land. In Africa, there are an estimated 33-million small farms who feel Africa’s current food crises most strongly. These crises are fuelled by problems, old and new: from internal conflicts like in Sudan and regional tensions, such as the effect of Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, who provided Africa with significant amounts of grain, to climate change that has worsened flooding and drought. New realities call for new solutions. Encouragingly, these are being supplied. Some are technological, such as strengthening food storage and transportation cold chains, while others are diplomatic and regulatory in nature.

Close intra-Africa collaboration in food production and distribution is required to ensure co-ordinated agricultural policies can make the continent self-sustaining in food production. Such alliances are essential to ensure nimble and timely responses to food shortages wherever these occur. For instance, the war in Ukraine has caused fertiliser prices to jump 300%. Organised efforts on a continental scale can ramp up fertiliser production in African countries capable of manufacturing fertiliser and can create a distribution network for countries in need.

Opportunely, the African Continental Free Trade Area has been launched, lowering barriers to trade and encouraging such collaboration between countries and sub-regions in food production and distribution. Locally, governmental financial aid to farmers to purchase fertiliser will significantly advance the realisation of a food-secure Africa. Enabling farmers to have the fertiliser they require is another major food production challenge. Sub-Saharan Africa’s use of agrochemicals is the lowest of any region in the world. Because of costs and lack of availability, the average African farmer uses 15 times less fertiliser than farmers elsewhere in the world, resulting in crop yields that are the world’s lowest. The maize yield of a typical African farm is half the yield achieved in other middle-income regions of the world and 80% less than yields achieved in high-income countries.

Synchronisation of African countries’ regulatory frameworks is another urgent requirement to permit the use of new agricultural technologies. No African country produces all the different types of seeds required by farmers. Remedying this will necessitate revisions in nations’ importation regulations and closer co-operation between supply countries. Agronomists have cited non-scientifically based regulations as key encumbrances to gaining food security. The African Continental Free Trade Area was launched as a mechanism to address regulatory issues. Also crucial is the provision of financing to small farmers, who produce a majority of Africa’s food. Technological innovations in agriculture ultimately must find their success in their ability to boost small farmers’ production capacity.

Struck by conflicts and climate change-related weather, East African countries faced the most acute food insecurity challenge of all Africa’s regions in 2024
Source: Global Network Against Food Crises/Food Security Information Network

Breakthroughs in agriculture-focused technologies

From the local level and government national policy promulgation to international organisations and NGOs involved in most aspects of human development, efforts to make Africa self-sustaining in food production are ongoing and often involve research efforts that yield innovations. In terms of investment, private industry is at the forefront. Global public investment in agricultural research has been flat in recent years at about US$30-billion a year. In the private sector, the seed industry alone spends 15% to 25% of its annual turnover on research and the development of new seed products (between US$10-billion and US$25-billion). Accordingly, the International Seed Federation reports that 90% of seed industry experts believe that, within 10 to 20 years, new seed technologies will be creating more nutritious crops that can be produced on less land and are resistant to pests and diseases. These seeds will be the foundation for future African food security. They will address weather challenges wrought by climate change, as well as new plant diseases that emerge from global warming.

Crop genome-editing technology is a leading innovation that has already produced prototypes of such agriproducts as drought-resistant, high-yielding maize, lettuce that remains green longer, cherries without pits and even mustard greens that when cooked do not turn bitter. Other adaptive foods and improved crops are reportedly in laboratory development. The principal necessity once these are perfected is to ensure that these advances are readily available to small farmers.

Because of inadequate refrigerated transportation systems and cold storage facilities, Africa’s small farmers suffer significant losses. Nearly a third (30%) of total harvests in Sub-Saharan Africa are lost due to waste. Innovative solutions to Africa’s food insecurity are increasingly focused on cold chain development, using solar power when necessary and expanding nations’ agro-processing industries. Food processing facilities not only add value and provide further export opportunities to countries, such as West Africa’s new chocolate makers who utilise locally grown cocoa beans that traditionally have been exported raw, but local manufacturing reduces food waste. Globally, 78% of the value of agricultural production comes from agro-processing. In Africa, the figure stands at half that, at 38%.

Other technologies now being deployed are data-gathering satellites and drones whose observations inform the analysis of land to determine which crops are best suited for any given area. Sensors are instructing automated irrigation systems to more efficiently water crops. Additionally, AI is helping farmers anticipate and deal with challenges from weather to pests, advising on fertiliser use and harvest times to lessen waste and offering methods to boost crop yields.

Scaling up small farming

While small farms produce 70% of Africa’s food supply, 90% of Africa’s rural population lives in poverty. Therefore, programmes and technological developments that ramp up food production are also poverty eradication measures. A study by the International Fund for Agricultural Development determined that an improved African agriculture sector can reduce extreme poverty 11 times more effectively than industry, tourism or any other economic sector.

The critical points:

• Technological advances are allowing Africa to boost food production and counter challenges like climate change
• Improving the production and lives of small farmers, who produce 70% of Africa’s food but overwhelmingly live in poverty, must be the focus of Africa’s food security efforts
• Continental co-operation is needed in regulations and trade to make Africa’s food production self-sufficient

Written by In on Africa