The African Union has been urged to endorse an initiative to develop an Africa Food Policy that guarantees the urgent and pressing need for Africa to feed itself.
Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa, a network of 36 civil society Civil Society Organisations actors, representing smallholder farmers and pastoralists said the policy would make a great difference.
The CSOs noted that within the current context of global volatility, multi-layered crises, and chaotic climate change with its disastrous consequences, the policy would also address food situation in the continent.
According to the AFSA members, Africa is currently importing foods that can be grown locally at exorbitant costs because the existing food policy is not sensitive to the needs of the small scale producers who are the ones feeding Africa.
Speaking during the launch of the African Food Policy Initiative at the Boma Hotel, AFSA Board chairperson Chris Macoloo said with a presence in 50 countries out of the 55 in Africa, they have started the process currently with 23 countries, where they have a lab and communities have been invited to talk about a common food policy for Africa and what they would want to see in it.
“Production levels in Africa are down, thereby necessitating food imports. The industrialised food production is not resilient to the effects of climate change, and it contributes to greenhouse gas emissions which result in global warming hence reducing productivity,” he said.
Macoloo said policies that are currently being implemented in various countries is foreign and has been top- down, but now with the beginning of a process of a common policy where there will be participation from down to up, a lot will be addressed.
The need to have an African Food Policy that has the support of AU, he said, is timely since the new home grown policy will be emphasising on promotion of agro ecology farming systems that heal the earth and revitalises soil health, hence result in increased food production.
During the meeting attended by representatives from 23 countries, Macoloo said they realised that there has been a lot of consistencies especially with different policies that affect different aspects of food, yet they are not coherent but discordant in the policy formulation.
“The implementation of these policies is also wanting, they are good documents on paper but are not actualised at the base where they are supposed to make a difference,” he added.
He gave an example of Kenya, whose constitution stipulates that people have a right to food saying, “Do people know they have a right to food, and not just food but adequate and healthy food? these are the issues we are grappling with. To bring to the attention of small-scale producers who include, farmers, fisher folks, pastoralists, indigenous people and civil society organisation at grassroots, to be able to formulate policies relevant to our situation.”
Macoloo said as AFSA who are network organisation that work in more than one country and can be able to influence policies at country level, they want to empower members of each country to monitor implementation of the policies.
They are also championing going the Agro ecology way as opposed to convention industrial based agriculture that is killing the soil because of toxic material being used in farming systems.
“The notion that industrial agriculture is the only one that can feed the country is wrong since some people argue and consider agro ecology as a backward farming using ‘jembes’ and yet it is a science, a movement and practiced, and it mimics the functioning of the natural ecosystem.
The dialogue that has begun Macoloo said, will be involving communities, government departments and relevant stakeholders in a participatory manner.
Overall, the board chairman said the new policy will shorten the food value chain by encouraging the utilisation of local territorial markets for the distribution of food.
This lesson, MacOloo said was learnt during the Covid-19 pandemic when importation and distribution of food was interrupted saying AFSA through its member networks will build the capacity of farmers in applying agro ecological principles of food production which is an important strategy for climate change adaptation.
AFSA Coordinator Million Belay said the drive of coming up with a common policy for Africa is because most of the food related experiences that Europe, USA and, Asia have is also experienced in Africa and since European have a common policy, Africa also needs a common one.
“Most Africa’s policy space is already occupied by external actors and interests but now with the consultants working at African Union level and other key government AMS non-government institutions, willing to work with the 23 countries, they can now actually write the policy of Africa based on the wish of the people,” Belay said.
-Edited by SKanyara