With 65 percent of the world’s uncultivated arable land and 10 percent of its renewable freshwater resources, “Africa’s immense agricultural potential has long been a keen point of discussion among agronomists and global decision-makers,” writes Quartz Africa. But the continent faces a host of issues in reaching its potential.
One obstacle is a dizzying array of tariffs and border policies that inhibit trade. Landlocked countries complain that shipping their produce across frontiers to ports “is such a fraught exercise that they often incur huge losses in the process.” Only 13 of Africa’s 55 countries offer visa-free or visa-on-arrival entry to all Africans, a setback for both inter- and intra-African trade.
Tanzinian tea manufacturer Raajeev Bopiah says that Africans would be “be happy to feed the world,” yet taxes and expansion risks scare farmers from expanding. “There’s no guarantee that (taxes) will remain constant for a long time, and that hurts,” Bopiah said. “You can’t plan long-term when new taxes are imposed without taking into consideration what is affordable and what isn’t.”
Weak infrastructure and transportation networks — mud roads, lack of silos, and a poor port system — obstruct trade and stymie retention of local foods. “You can’t transport more than four tons in a truck on mud roads—as opposed to the 20 tons I could do on proper roads. It’s costing me five times more!” Bopiah said.
Nearly one-third of food is wasted globally, according to FAO figures, and without proper storage capacities, Africa loses $4 billion annually post-harvest, Richard Munang, a senior official at the UN’s Environment Program, told Quartz. “Inefficiencies along Africa’s agro-value chains are the basis of food problems.”