NewsRescue
Africa’s reliance on food imports has increased, according to an article published on Tuesday by The Guardian Nigeria.
According to the outlet, Solomon Gizaw, the head of the Technologies for African Agricultural Transformation (TAAT) programme, argued that, given the disruptions caused by the Russia-Ukraine conflict, African countries should have increased their wheat production self-sufficiency, but their increased reliance on imports hampered such efforts.
“In Africa, we have technology, land, water, and people. Gizaw stated that if we band together and collaborate, Nigeria and the rest of Africa will be able to feed themselves. Currently, Nigeria imports over 90% of its wheat.
The Ukraine conflict combined with Western sanctions on Russian shipping and financial transactions triggered a shortage of grain in Africa, along with a sharp increase in costs. Moscow has pledged to provide food assistance to African nations as part of an agreement announced by President Vladimir Putin at the Russia-Africa summit in St. Petersburg in July, when he undertook to send some 200,000 tons of free wheat to a number of countries on the continent.
The arrangements for the supply of free wheat were put in place after Moscow refused to renew the Black Sea Grain Initiative. The deal was intended to facilitate the export of Ukrainian grain to world markets, particularly to poor countries, in exchange for a lifting of Western sanctions that prevented Russian agricultural exports. Moscow withdrew from the agreement in July, accusing Western countries of failing to uphold its end of the deal.
