By Mamadou Thiam
On February 4, Senegalese President Macky Sall made a clarion call to his country of more than 17 million to achieve self-sufficiency in food production.
“If we want to be sheltered from the vagaries of world trade, we can no longer continue to import essential foodstuffs on a massive scale,” he said during an official programme.
It was a call that has ramifications for all of Africa – the world’s second-most populous continent that is home to 249 million hungry people, according to various estimates. That is 30 percent of the world’s hungry population.
The Senegalese President’s plea reflects a growing concern and urgency among African leaders to ensure food security for their citizens in a volatile world.
In late January, heads of state, private sector leaders, representatives of multilateral organisations, NGOs, as well as scientists and researchers, met at the Senegalese capital for the second Dakar summit on food security.
Food sovereignty
The theme of the Dakar II summit – ‘Feeding Africa: food sovereignty and resilience’ – sums up Africa’s problem as the world faces a potential food crisis due to the growing climate crisis and the conflict involving Russia and Ukraine, combined making up the world’s breadbasket.
And it was the Senegalese President who made a strong case for Africa to produce more food instead of relying on imports and aid.
At the end of the three-day summit, development partners pledged $30 billion to boost food production in Africa over the next five years, according to the President of the African Development Bank.
The issue of food sovereignty remains one of the primary concerns for the State of Senegal. With an estimated 72 percent of households in the country involved in farming, agriculture plays a significant role in the economy.
But the Sahelian country on the Atlantic coast, imports nearly 70 percent of its food needs, mainly rice, wheat and corn. This is a dependency that many fail to understand since the country has enormous potential to meet the requirements.
For example, the Senegal River Valley, the central area of intervention of the Delta Land Development Company (SAED), occupies a prominent place, with an estimated potential of 240,000 hectares of irrigable regions, of which 121,000 hectares of land are now developed.
Added to this is the existence of a dense hydrographic network, a large working population and well-structured producer organisations.
Agricultural revolution needed
According to Aboubacry Sow, the General Director of SAED, the Senegal River Valley alone has the potential to can guarantee “self-sufficiency in food production”.
However, the present scene is not too inspiring.
According to a World Food Program (WFP) study, around 16 percent of the Senegalese population is food insecure.
In 2013, a year after Macky Sall assumed the presidency, Senegal was ranked 154th out of 186 countries on the global Human Development Index (HDI).
In a country whose economy depends mainly on fishing, tourism or the production of peanuts – Senegal’s main cash crop – a real revolution was needed, particularly in the agricultural sector.
Aware of the country’s enormous potential, the Senegalese President has launched several initiatives, including his flagship programme, the Program to Accelerate the Pace of Senegalese Agriculture (PRACAS II).
The objective was to achieve self-sufficiency in rice production by 2017. The deadline was initially postponed to 2019, but the target remains far at the start of 2023.
The most telling observation of the Dakar summit came from Akinwumi Adesina, the President of the African Development Bank.
“Africa has no choice because time is not on its side, given the ongoing population growth on the continent,” he told African leaders.
“We need to take decisive action now to secure food supplies. It will require more productive, efficient, competitive, dynamic and environmentally sustainable food systems. Agriculture must become the new oil of Africa.” Many analysts say the time for Africa to act is here and now.
