How Can Africa Achieve Food Security? G20 Highlights Trade, Resilient Supply Chains, and Sustainable Farming

The G20’s Three Principles for Sustainable Food Systems

The Business 20 (B20), a G20 engagement group, has identified three key principles aimed at building sustainable food systems and agriculture. These principles—increased trade, resilient supply chains, and sustainable agricultural practices—are seen as essential in addressing global food security challenges.

Agricultural economist Wandile Sihlobo explains these principles and their relevance to African countries, highlighting how they can be leveraged to improve food production and reduce hunger.

Understanding Global Food Security

Global food security is more than just ensuring there is enough food. It involves addressing access to food, nutrition, sustainability, and affordability. The goal is to create a system where countries, particularly those in the G20, work together to reduce poverty levels at both national and household levels.

Achieving this requires domestic agricultural policies that boost food production, promote environmentally friendly methods, and ease trade friction. This allows countries that cannot produce enough food to import it affordably. Additionally, removing tariffs and export bans, such as India’s 2023 rice export ban that caused global price surges, is critical.

Sihlobo advocates for “achieving food security through trade,” emphasizing that reducing trade friction lowers transaction costs and improves living standards, especially in poorer regions like Africa, the Middle East, and Asia.

How the Three Principles Enhance Food Security

These principles are central to lowering costs and improving efficiency in the food system:

• Increased Trade: Reducing tariffs, non-tariff barriers, and export bans makes it easier and cheaper to move food from production areas to consumers.
• Resilient Supply Chains: Ensuring that food can be produced, processed, and distributed smoothly even during natural disasters or conflicts.
• Sustainable Agricultural Practices: Using inputs like fertilizers and agrochemicals safely and efficiently, rather than eliminating them entirely. This approach supports productivity without harming the environment.

Sihlobo warns against activist movements that seek to eliminate agricultural inputs, as this could lead to lower yields and worsen hunger. He highlights the European Union’s Green Deal as an example of policies that may negatively impact farmers by restricting critical inputs.

Policies for African Nations

For African countries, especially those within the G20, implementing specific policies is crucial to achieving the B20 principles:

1. Climate-Smart Farming
   Sharing knowledge on climate-smart agricultural practices is vital. These innovations help protect crops from droughts, heatwaves, and other climate-related disasters. Governments must establish coordinated policies to respond to these challenges effectively.

2. Trade Reform
   Africa should push for reforms in the global trading system to enhance food security. South Africa already benefits from reduced tariffs with G20 economies, which helps keep agricultural prices low. Open trade is beneficial in a world where some nations adopt more confrontational trade approaches.

3. Improved Access to Fertilisers
   Sub-Saharan Africa faces significant challenges in accessing fertilizers. Increasing usage of fertilizers is key to boosting food production and reducing hunger. Linking fertilizer discussions with investments in infrastructure like roads and ports is essential for efficient distribution.

Producing fertilizers locally would reduce the impact of global price shocks and make them more affordable for vulnerable countries.

Balancing Efficiency and Climate Impact

There is a need to balance efficient agricultural production with reducing agriculture’s contribution to climate change. Sihlobo argues that using technology and high-yielding seed cultivars, along with safe use of agrochemicals, allows for higher output without expanding farmland. This approach minimizes environmental harm while increasing productivity.

Demonizing agrochemicals and seed breeding, as seen in some parts of South Africa, risks undermining food security. The focus should remain on optimal and safe use of inputs to support sustainable growth.

Conclusion

The G20 has a critical role in shaping a more food-secure future. By promoting increased trade, resilient supply chains, and sustainable agricultural practices, the group can help address global food security challenges. For African nations, implementing these principles through targeted policies will be essential in achieving long-term food stability and economic growth.