While shopping, Mercy Wangondu rarely stops to question what factors influence the cost of groceries. She purchases a variety of items including domestically made and foreign-imported products such as cereals, fish, fruit, and spices.
It’s evident to her that prices have been increasing over the past few years. The clinical officer sighs, saying, "I end up spending more for the same items each month." She adds with resignation, "What options do I really have? Everything costs so much these days."
At their home in Tetu within Nyeri County, her elderly parents cultivate tea and coffee.
For several decades, they have grown these two cash crops as their only source of income. Although this family isn't exactly impoverished, their farm yields barely enough to cover expenses, settle minor debts, purchase groceries, and restock agricultural chemicals for each planting season.
Similar to numerous small-scale Kenyan farmers, the Wangondu family might be unaware that their cultivation practices and the cost of food are influenced by events from the past as well as circumstances occurring thousands of miles away.
For many years, Kenya's embraced agricultural methods—including exports—have shaped how farmers use their land, what crops they cultivate, and the techniques they employ for cultivation.
Ultimately, this influences the nation's food security status as well as determining whether farmers can escape poverty.
Currently, these topics form the core of a fresh collaboration initiative between Germany’s Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL) and African nations. The 'German Agricultural and Food Strategy for Africa 2025' seeks to aid in establishing a resilient farming sector across Africa. This effort focuses on sustainable, equitable, and adaptable food systems designed to promote shared advantages.
Furthermore, the BMEL aims to enhance its renewed partnership with Africa to bolster food security and reduce reliance on imported foods.
Unsurprisingly, this approach has faced significant examination across the continent and internationally. Civil society organizations like Power Shift Africa and Germanwatch have called upon the German government to emphasize food sovereignty and agroecology within its agricultural collaboration framework.
In response, the nonprofit organizations have challenged the effectiveness of the strategy, pointing out that previous bilateral and multilateral efforts aimed at enhancing Africa's agricultural output have not succeeded, leaving the continent continually grappling with food shortages.
Currently, the state of food security in Africa is dire, with alarming statistics. In 2023, an estimated 298 million people on the continent experienced hunger, as reported by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).
This represents one out of every five individuals. The outlook for the future is even grimmer. Multiple United Nations organizations caution that without intervention, Africa could become the most food-insecure continent globally by 2030, with over half of the anticipated 600 million chronically malnourished people originating from this region.
Experts in food and agriculture suggest that this outcome stems from extensive investments in industrialized farming methods over several decades. However, it also highlights inadequate funding for agroecological approaches.
They contend that industrial agriculture has not moved the global food system away from control by major food companies. According to Amy G Thorp, this system has made African small-scale farmers more susceptible and reliant on outside resources like seeds and agricultural chemicals.
Currently, Syngenta, BASF, Bayer-Monsanto, and DowDuPont hold over 60 percent of the global seed and agrochemical market. This dominance by what is known as 'Big Ag' is something Amy believes needs to be addressed. In her view, as an expert in climate adaptation, the German-African agricultural collaboration initiative provides a promising beginning.
It is crucial for African countries to maintain ownership over their agricultural destiny.
Although the German approach acknowledges the influence of agricultural imports—especially fertilizers and various chemicals—on domestic production and food safety, experts such as Bridget Mugambe believe this isn't sufficient. As the programs coordinator at the Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA), she argues that the policy entirely disregards the significance of regional markets in promoting food sovereignty and sustainable livelihoods across the continent.
"Mega supermarkets across Africa are filling their shelves with imported, highly processed foods; these options may be more convenient, yet they come at the expense of local farmers, nutritional value, and sustainable food systems," according to Mugambe.
Interestingly, cash crops intended for export have resulted in African communities becoming both more hungry and impoverished. How does this happen? For one thing, flowers and tea do provide income for farmers, enhancing their standard of living. However, these same crops alter land usage patterns. They are predominantly marketed internationally where prices can fluctuate drastically, leading to economic instability.
For many years, agriculture in Africa has been trapped within what agrarian advocates call 'colonial extractive frameworks,' wherein the continent serves primarily to provide raw materials that are then processed into finished products outside of Africa.
For example, most of the world's chocolate production relies on cocoa grown in Africa, with Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Nigeria, and Cameroon together providing 75 percent of the globe's cocoa supply.
Most of this cocoa production comes from small-scale farmers who earn approximately $0.78 (Sh101) per day, placing them amongst some of the world’s most impoverished individuals. Many face difficulties feeding their families, obtaining medical care, and educating their children. At such wages, an African cocoa farmer typically needs to work for about six grueling days just to buy a regular $5 (Sh648) chocolate box.
Paradoxically, despite being the globe's leading cocoa producer, Côte d'Ivoire receives roughly 4% of the annual $130 billion profit generated by the worldwide chocolate market, as reported by the World Economic Forum. In contrast, major confectionery corporations like The Hershey Company, Mondelez, Ferrero, and Nestlé accumulate higher yearly sales revenues compared to many of the nations where their raw materials originate.
For example, Côte d'Ivoire's GDP of $70 billion in 2022 fell short compared to the annual revenue of food giant Nestlé, which stood at $104 billion that same year. Nevertheless, European chocolate consumers continue to demand more chocolate.
If they are premium quality and sourced exclusively from single-origin, artisanal cocoa beans, even better. But will African farmers keep working on their farms to satisfy this increasing demand? Lazarus Nanzala finds this idea repulsive.
The senior policy advisor from the SDG2 Advocacy Hub believes that Africans should prioritize growing food for their own communities rather than catering to Europeans' emotional preferences via flowers and chocolate imports.
'It is crucial to break down exploitative trade practices and channel resources into climate-resistant, farmer-led food systems. This way, Africa can foster dignity, autonomy, and fairness within the core of its agricultural transformation,' asserts Nanzala.
However, could shifting focus from cash crops to agroecology genuinely nourish the nation and the continent? Is this approach practical? Pramila Mubanda thinks it is possible.
Mubanda notes, "The way we farm nowadays isn’t serving our purposes. Our current agricultural practices fail to address our nation’s food requirements. The extent of our imported foods underscores our vulnerability to food shortages."
For the co-founder of Urban Smart Gardeners, achieving food security requires a nation to possess adequate, readily available, and wholesome nutrition — an objective that Kenya currently fails to meet.
Agroecology enables farmers to expand their crop variety with products that are already in high demand locally," notes Mubanda, and questions, "Why invest extensively in non-food crops when we can cultivate what is needed within our own communities?
Nanzala agrees, noting that Africa’s food future hinges on reclaiming and owning it —not just in policies but in practice too.
He states: "Years of disregard and inadequate focused assistance have bound our small-scale farmers to outside influences. Genuine resilience comes from direct investments by our governments in indigenous wisdom and fair systems that enable communities to manage their lands, seeds, and futures." Although the German model embraces agroecology, it falls short of incorporating food sovereignty as a fundamental guiding concept.
Experts from Africa in the fields of food and agriculture have been advocating for food sovereignty rather than just food security, highlighting its comprehensive significance in tackling crucial matters like land rights and seed sovereignty.
For Amy, this could restore control over food systems to local entities. She states, "Should Germany's approach genuinely aim to strengthen African farmers, it should prioritize food sovereignty and establish a framework for African nations to regain command of their food systems from the clutches of global conglomerates."
If current agricultural power structures have been detrimental to Africa, climate change is propelling the continent even closer to the edge of disaster.
Currently, Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania, as well as the whole Horn of Africa region, are experiencing an increased vulnerability to both floods and droughts compared to previous times, happening every year now.
These severe weather occurrences have disrupted farming activities, making the area's potential for food security even more precarious. As the region's susceptibility to climatic conditions worsens, its preparedness to handle such calamities stays surprisingly inadequate.
Every nation within this area positions itself among the top 50 most susceptible and inadequately prepared to tackle the impacts of climate change due to insufficient adaptation efforts, particularly in farming sectors.
This indicates that the future of food production in Eastern Africa is uncertain.
Lina Adil from Germanwatch states that failing to recognize the connection between land usage and climate efforts hampers long-term environmental viability.
Adil, who works as a policy advisor for climate adaptation and loss and damage, emphasizes that the German government needs to execute its strategy so that it aligns food production, adaptation efforts, and carbon sequestration effectively.
"There is a necessity to convert agricultural areas into strong partners in the battle against climate change," observes Adil.
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