Ukraine crisis should reawaken Africa's awareness of food independence

Far from the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Africa is paying the price. Communities are going hungry as food prices continue to escalate, exacerbating an already worse situation compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Africa relies on grain imports from Russia and Ukraine, but with the ongoing crisis, which closed ports in Ukraine and Western sanctions against Russia, the supply chain is disrupted. Humanitarian agencies are arguing that the blocked supplies are worsening the hunger situation in Africa where some parts have been hit by persistent drought, desert locust infestation and insecurity.

According to the African Development Bank (ADB), the disruptions of food supplies arising from the Russia-Ukraine war, Africa now faces a shortage of at least 30 million metric tons of food, especially wheat, maize, and soybeans imported from both countries.

African leaders are now engaged in urgent calls to Western countries and Russia to at least free up the cereal and grain supplies.

African Union chief and Senegalese President Macky Sall recently met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Sochi to ask him to assist in getting the wheat of Ukraine out of the Ports of Odessa.

Sall has also talked to the Europeans to stop sanctioning wheat from Russia and fertilizers because Africa needs them.

Antonio Querido, a UN Food and Agriculture Organization envoy in Uganda told Xinhua that while all these calls are short-term measures, the silver lining on the Ukraine crisis is the signal that Africa should work on being self-sufficient in food.

"Times are challenging, this crisis is affecting everyone, it is affecting our continent. When it comes to the agriculture sector, we should look at this global crisis as an opportunity," Querido said.

"This is the time for us also to look at ways for us to be self-sufficient in feeding our people. Uganda, you still have more than 60 percent of arable land untouched, sufficient water, so there is an opportunity for us," he added.

The UN envoy argued that African countries need to identify commodities that they can invest and start producing at a scale that can address the continent's food shortages.

"We have one of the biggest continents, our continent has 60 percent of the global arable land, this is the continent that you find one of the biggest rivers, and our market is also 1.4 billion people," he said.

"More investment is needed in agriculture, mechanization for us to produce more, to be effective and be able to compete with others," he said.

ADB last month announced a 1.5 billion US dollar facility to benefit 20 million African farmers, who will receive certified seed and technology to rapidly produce 38 million tons of food. This, according to the bank, would be a 12 billion-dollar increase in food production in two years.

The two-year emergency phase, according to ADB, will be followed by a five-year ramp-up phase aimed at weaning Africa off wheat and other food imports. The five-year phase will deliver seeds and inputs to 40 million farmers under the Technologies for African Agricultural Transformation program.

Some African countries have started their individual journeys of reducing dependence on food imports.

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni in his annual State of the Nation Address held on Tuesday said the country is working toward boosting agricultural production.

Museveni said the country is moving away from depending on rain-fed agriculture to irrigation. He said besides working on mega irrigation schemes, the government is working with the private sector to ensure the production of solar-powered irrigation pumps that can be used in villages.