A new World Bank report Africa Can Help Feed Africa: Removing barriers to regional trade in food staples ―says that Africa’s farmers can potentially grow enough food to feed the continent and avert future food crises if countries remove cross-border restrictions on the food trade within the region. According to the Bank, the continent would also generate an extra US$20 billion in yearly earnings if African leaders can agree to dismantle trade barriers that blunt more regional dynamism. The report was released on the eve of an African Union (AU) ministerial summit in Addis Ababa on agriculture and trade.
According to the report “Africa has the ability to grow and deliver good quality food to put on the dinner tables of the continent’s families, however, this potential is not being realized because farmers face more trade barriers in getting their food to market than anywhere else in the world. Too often borders get in the way of getting food to homes and communities which are struggling with too little to eat.”
With many African farmers effectively cut off from the high-yield seeds, and the affordable fertilizers and pesticides needed to expand their crop production, including unpredictable weather patterns, the continent has turned to foreign imports to meet its growing needs in staple foods.
See full report here for some policy considerations.
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