Posted on November, 15, 2023 at 06:34 am
Negotiations on the Black Sea grain corridor have not been renewed, and the critical dependence of African countries on Ukrainian and Russian grains remains a pressing issue.
The previous agreement provided Russian President Vladimir Putin with diplomatic leverage to obtain certain privileges and favours, such as the export of his wheat and fertilisers or the reintegration of the Russian agricultural bank, Rosselkhozbank, into the Swift banking network.
From Russia’s point of view, the game played by Ukraine and the Euro-Atlanticists has a lot to do with the current stalemate.
According to a statement from Putin on 17 July, more than 90% of the grain shipments resulting from last year’s agreement – made up of wheat, barley, sunflower and, above all, maize – were supplied to Europe and other wealthy countries, even though they had previously been destined for developing countries.
Since then, we have witnessed an all-out communication war, against a backdrop of alarmist predictions that the global South is going to starve. For those who still doubt it, food is a powerful tool for pressure and blackmail in international relations.
In the wake of the breakdown of this agreement, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who had every intention of continuing his exports, accused Russia of targeting and destroying warehouses containing some 60,000 tonnes of grain.
Unsurprisingly, Russia refuted these accusations, arguing that it was more a question of military targets. This state of affairs created a wave of panic in the world grain market, particularly over wheat – the price of which immediately rose by 8%, causing concern in the countries of the South.
While the chairman of the African Union (AU) Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat, has called for a return to normal – not without first expressing his concern about the consequences – Guinea has already taken the decision, on 17 July, to ban the export of several foodstuffs (including rice, maize, cassava, potatoes, palm oil, okra, tomatoes and aubergines) from its territory to ensure its food security.
Although Putin promised to supply 25,000 to 50,000 tonnes of wheat to several allied African countries at the Russia-Africa Summit held in St Petersburg from 27 to 28 July, this type of protectionist measure is likely to multiply throughout Africa, and even around the rest of the world, in the days to come if the situation is not put right.
The fact that so many African countries are so dependent on wheat from two countries that have been at war for the past two years is a strategic error, which undoubtedly reflects a failure of food policies on the continent.
According to the United Nations, 80% of the food consumed on the African continent in 2020 came from imports. Again according to the UN, the global import bill is set to rise by 10% for 2022 to around $2trn. More than ever, it is in Africa’s interest to learn the lessons from this strategy, which is regularly used by Ukraine and Russia, and which constantly threatens the food security, and by extension the political stability, of other states.
To achieve this, reform of food infrastructure and acceleration of intra-African trade are measures necessary to take. Could it be, then, that trade in the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) is a channel for building this new dynamic for self-sufficiency? On 17 July, as part of the Guided Trade Initiative (GTI), Cameroon received its first shipment of resin goods from Tunisia at the Autonomous Port of Kribi (PAK).
For the first practical phase of this project, eight countries (Tunisia, Ghana, Cameroon, Rwanda, Tanzania, Mauritius, Kenya and Egypt) were chosen to “test the operational, institutional, legal and trade policy environment of AfCFTA and send an important positive message”, according to the institution’s secretariat. Similarly, a sample of 96 products – from an initial list of more than 5,000, including food products such as meat specialties, pasta, tea and coffee – were selected.
At a time when African countries are suffering economic difficulties and high living costs, this huge market could be a springboard for a strategic system for supplying local foodstuffs. To ward off food insecurity on the continent, whether in times of peace, war, or disaster, African countries must capitalise on their food, water and culinary diversity.
To achieve this, it would be advisable to set up a specialised structure or unit in each country to document the eating habits and practices of the population, to facilitate trade flows in essential food products. As a platform for inter-regional trade, AfCFTA can help counteract the use of food as leverage, which has been going on for several decades.
Source: Africa Report