Africa imports close to $50 billion worth of food annually- official

The Director General of the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Simeon Ehui, on Sunday, has said Africa imports close to $50 billion worth of food annually.

Mr Ehui disclosed this in an interview with journalists at the ongoing Africa Food System Forum (#AFSForum2025), in Dakar, Senegal on Sunday.

“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,” Mr Ehui said.

The staggering figure, according to him, underscores the importance of food sovereignty.

Food sovereignty is the right of communities, countries, or regions to control their own food systems, encompassing production, distribution, and consumption. This promotes sustainable agriculture, supports small-scale farmers, and enhances food security while also protecting the environment and advancing social justice.

Speaking on Sunday, Mr Ehui emphasised the importance of science-driven solutions to address food insecurity in Africa, noting that research and development are critical to transforming the continent’s food system and improving the livelihoods of farmers.

However, he stressed that research outputs must be translated into actionable solutions that reach end-users, particularly smallholder farmers.

“I want to say that the problem of food insecurity in Africa must be resolved through the use of science. And science is through the research that we do, which is quite critical.

“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.

By relying on imports, he said, Africa is essentially exporting employment opportunities that could be created locally.

To address this challenge, Mr Ehui called for significant investment in food and agriculture in Africa.

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“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’s why the comprehensive African agricultural development program is pushing for a 10 per cent 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.

“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,” he said.

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