From Okwe Obi, Abuja
Despite being home to some of the world’s most fertile land, African nations spend over $50 billion every year importing food they could produce themselves.
Experts say the time has come for the continent to end the worrisome paradox, especially now that the global economy is in turmoil, forcing developed nations to maintain protectionist stances.
The new song is food sovereignty and it remains the greatest access card to global developmental meetings where the haves decide the fate of the have-nots.
Analysts have advocated for urgent reforms to boost food production and cut dependence on imports, strengthen resilience and secure a sustainable future for millions.
Foods that gulp huge foreign exchange are; rice, millet, milk and other staples and dairies.
Nigeria alone, according to the National Bureau Statistics (NBS), in its May 2025 report, spent about N21 trillion on food importation last year.
Director General, International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Simeon Ehui, who spoke to select journalists, at the ongoing Africa Food System Forum (#AFSForum2025), at the weekend, pointed out that by relying on imports, Africa was exporting employment opportunities that could be created locally.
According to him, the humongous sum highlighted the importance of food sovereignty.
He said: “Today, Africa imports close to 50 billion US dollars in food. This is unacceptable. We need to be able to use science to alleviate the problem of food insecurity.
“Food sovereignty is the right of communities, countries, or regions to control their own food systems, encompassing production, distribution, and consumption. This concept promotes sustainable agriculture, supports small-scale farmers, and enhances food security while also protecting the environment and advancing social justice.”
Also, he emphasised the importance of science-driven solutions to address food insecurity in Africa, noting that research and development were critical to transforming the continent’s food system and improving the livelihoods of farmers.
Ehusi, however, stressed that research outputs must be translated into actionable solutions that could reach end-users, particularly smallholder farmers.
According to him, the problem of food insecurity in Africa must be resolved through the use of science, saying can only be carried out through research.
“Now, if we develop scientific results, and then they are not in the hands of the end users, then science becomes irrelevant. So, what this means is that we need support of rural infrastructure, investment in the rural areas, promote the extension of the technologies to the end users, build partnerships so that the farmers can use the latest technologies to change their livelihoods. We need to move from research, delivery, and scaling up by the farmers,” he said.
He further emphasised that the continent’s food import bill is not only a strain on its economies but also a missed opportunity for economic growth and job creation.
As part of the larger picture, Ehui called for significant investment in food and agriculture in Africa.
“Food sovereignty is critically important. Like I told you earlier, we import close to 50 billion US dollars of food. It means that we are exporting, if you want, employment elsewhere in the countries from which we are importing the food from. So, we need to invest significantly in food and agriculture in Africa in order to stop the importation of this food.
“So, investment in research and education is important. That is why the comprehensive African agricultural development programme is pushing for a 10% investment in budget from countries into agriculture sector so that we can reduce the importation of food using the scarce resources we have to import food,” he added.
Those scarce resources, he said, could be used to improve education, health among others.
He suggested that Nigeria and other African countries should begin to adequately build partnerships with global food players like Asia, India, and Brazil, to enhance local production.
He said: “If you want, import technologies, but not to import food. And we need to build partnerships with countries that have made a difference, like in Asia, India, and Brazil, where we know that they have succeeded in transforming the food system through the application of science and technology.”
In addition, Deputy Head, Youth in Agric-business, Unit, IITA-CGIAR, Noel Mulinganya, reminded African leaders that investing in agriculture was crucial to transforming the continent’s food system and creating jobs and wealth.
He stressed that “Africa has a youth population. It has more than 60 per cent of the youth population. So if we don’t address the problem of unemployment in Africa, it is like a timing bomb.”
While corroborating Ehusi’s assertion, he said stakeholders must prioritise rural youth in AgricTech development and implementation, foster public-private partnerships, and develop context-specific AgricTech solutions.
“The African food system is really having a central theme on youths because for the past 10 years we have been advocating to have the youths considered as the driver for agriculture transformation,” he said.
He complained that the governments in the past 60s-70s, only focused on minerals and other export products.
“But I think with time, they are now considering agriculture to be the primary source of revenue. So what we are supposed to bring now is the skills, the evidence that they can help to integrate into country programs so that agriculture can really become a place for job and wealth creation for the youth,” he added
He cited insecurity, terrorism and political instability if hunger and unemployment were left unaddressed.
“Our youths are enrolled in terrorism, in armed groups, and you can see insecurity all over the continent, Boko Haram, Al-Shabaab, among others. Everywhere you can see insecurity, and it is our youths that are enrolling there.
“You can see political instability where there’s poach and coup everywhere. They are using our youths. So if we don’t address the problem of youths, we are really having a problem for Africa.
“So agriculture is our major asset. That is one of the wealth we have in the world. We have the right soil. We have the right climate. We have all that can help agriculture to become our major priority,” he said.
Speaking further, he highlighted, the need to change the narrative around agriculture and youth.
“At CGIAR, what we are doing for the youth to change narrative are on four levels. The first level we are trying to change their mindset toward agriculture by organising sensitisation meetings to showcase benefits and opportunities in different agriculture value chains and translate technologies into businesses and analysing profitability.
“There are niches of opportunities where the youth can benefit from. The second level is really to train them because they need those skills. If they want to use agriculture as a business, they need the skill, they need the latest technologies that will help them to transform agriculture beyond being a normal job but to become really a top-notch business for them to really thrive in it.
“So, we are training them along different value chains from the production to the plates, passing by the value addition, processing, packaging, marketing, and all the elements and to see how they can position themselves in that value chain,” he said.
As part of the solutions, Programme Officer West Africa at Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA), Famara Ijeju, emphasised the benefits of agroecology in feeding Africa’s growing population.
“Agroecology can really feed the family. When we talk about yielding, let’s not just focus on one crop on the field, but let’s look at the whole farm, what are the different crops or products that are coming from there and how long they can sustain the family.”
Ijeju added that major challenges contending against food security in Africa include undermining Africa’s role in food security and lack of support for family farming systems.
“Where they put their money is on alleged high yielding varieties, fertilisers, certified seeds, and so on. We all know that those systems, it’s like what we call under perfusion,” he said.
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