HARARE, Zimbabwe (PAMACC News) - African policy makers, local leaders and the private sector have been asked to create an enabling environment that will help African traders and farmer folks build reliable systems for food security and resilience through territorial markets.

During a week-long 2024 Africa Agroecological Entrepreneurship and Seed Festival in Harare, Zimbabwe, experts observed that persistent crises have shown the importance of resilient close-to-home ‘territorial’ markets that feed billions of people every day – from public markets and street vendors to cooperatives, from urban agriculture to online direct sales, and from food hubs to community kitchens.

“For instance, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, global food prices spiked by 15%, forcing policy-makers around the world to question how to reduce dependency on volatile global markets and strengthen food self-sufficiency,” said Dr Million Belay, the General Coordinator at the Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA).

“Further, questions have been raised about how people are actually fed, and by whom, prompting us to ask: in this century of crisis, what kinds of food supply chains and markets can build resilience, and help fulfil the right to food – nourishing people around the world more sustainably and equitably?,” paused Belay.

To answer the question, experts are calling for policies and sound working environment that will empower territorial markets that promote dietary diversity and affordable nutritious foods for all, allows producers and food workers to retain control over their livelihoods, and food that is adaptable to climate chocks and emerging crises.

These markets have been broadly defined as markets that are centred on small-scale agroecological food producers and business owners that produce and sell a variety of commodities, and often meet preference of majority of farmers, traders and consumers.

Studies have shown that these markets play a crucial role in making food accessible and affordable, especially for low-income populations in the Global South, allowing for the purchase of small and flexible quantities of food, price bargaining, informal credit arrangements, and being located in or near low-income neighbourhoods.

A new study launched on the sidelines of the Harare event that culminated into the fifth Biennial Africa Food Systems Conference, however, shows that profit oriented corporate value chains are highly concentrated in Africa’s market places

The report, titled ‘Food from Somewhere,’ by the International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems (IPES Food) finds that just seven grain traders control at least 50% of the global grain trade, six major corporations control 78% of the agrochemical market, the top eight carriers of freight account for more than 80% of the market for ocean freight capacity and globally, 1% of the world’s largest farms control 70% of the world’s farmland.

This, according to experts, amounts to a corporate capture of Africa’s food systems.

The report is therefore advocating for a paradigm shift, urging governments to reinvest in local and regional supply infrastructure, relocalise public purchasing and food security strategies for a more resilient and equitable approach to food security.

“The problem for smallholders is not of being connected to markets (most are already involved in markets) but rather the conditions of their access and the rules and logics by which markets operate – who determines prices and on what criteria, who controls the costs of production, who holds market power among other issues,” said Mamadou Goïta, a member of IPES and the Lead Author.

A spot check at the Mbare Musika territorial market in Harare found a variety of foodstuffs sourced from all the eight regions of Zimbabwe, among others from neighbouring countries such as apples and other fruits from South Africa, fish and ginger from Mozambique, groundnuts from Malawi, sorghum from Botswana, and as well as grapes from Egypt and tamarind from Tanzania among others.

“This is the central hub for smallholders farmers and traders, supporting over seven million people from all over Zimbabwe and other parts of the continent,” said Charles Dhewa, Chief Executive Officer, Knowledge Transfer Africa (KTA) whose flagship known as eMkambo (eMarket) is to create a physical and web-based market for agriculture and rural development integrating the use of mobile phones and the internet to create, adapt and share knowledge.

Mbare Musika Market, which is in the outskirts of Harare is located next to the main bus-park, through which food is brought in using informal means such as passenger buses and vans from different parts of the country, in small and big quantities, and of different varieties and qualities.

“The evidence is clear – localised food systems are vital for feeding an increasingly hungry planet and preventing food insecurity and famine,” said Shalmali Guttal the Executive Director of Focus on the Global South. “They provide nutritious, affordable food, and are far more adaptable to global shocks and disruptions than industrial supply chains,” she added.

Jennifer Clapp, professor and Canada Research Chair in Global Food Security and Sustainability at the University of Waterloo, Canada pointed out that during this time of rising hunger and ecological fragility, global industrial food chains will be catastrophically liable to break down under the strain of frequent crises.

“To have a chance of reaching the world’s zero hunger goal by 2030, we need to re-imagine our food systems, and we need to bolster the food markets that serve the poor,” she said.

ABUJA, Nigeria (PAMACC News) - It was a cool and breezy evening in Koba. Abou Camara sat in his reclining chair, with the gentle breeze caressing his bearded face and unveiling the palpable feeling of satisfaction and happiness emanating from his being.

Abou, a renowned rice farmer in Koba, a town in the Télimélé Prefecture in the Kindia Region of western-central Guinea, is in high spirits following a recent discovery on his farm. This discovery will change his socio-economic status forever!

With experience in rice farming from 1998, Abou has planted several rice seed varieties on his farm. Each year, his hope for a bumper harvest gets shattered by flooding occasioned by fluctuating weather patterns in his region. In 2016, Abou acquired and planted the NERICA L19 variety, but little did he know that the variety does not have the flood-tolerant submergence gene, and when the floods came, he lost nearly all he planted that season.

In 2019, Abou participated in a farmer field school organised by Technologies for African Agricultural Transformation (TAAT) in collaboration with the AfricaRice Centre and some seed enterprises. He was introduced to new climate-smart varieties: NERICA L19sub1, WITA 4sub1, Mbapeya, and ROK5.

Upon planting the new NERICA L19sub1 and WITA 4sub1 seeds in the subsequent season with strict observance of good agronomic practices, Abou discovered that the seeds he planted had a flood-tolerant gene. He noticed that these varieties could tolerate flooding when it occurred at the vegetative stage on his farm for a period of 10 days, and yet the crop was able to show normal growth.

“Both NERICA L19sub1 and WITA 4sub1 showed high promise of a very good harvest despite the flooding in my farm. Accessing these varieties has made a huge difference in my life, and I am happy because this year’s harvest will be my biggest one so far,” Abou said.

“This is something I have never experienced with other varieties. I am proud of this scientific achievement. Indeed, with science, we can overcome,” he added.

To reduce the negative effects of climate change on rice production and paddy quality, the African Development Bank, through the TAAT programme, is scaling the adoption of improved climate-resilient rice varieties across Africa. This will ensure that seed enterprises and farmers can access elite rice varieties adapted to adverse weather conditions like erratic rainfall, flooding, and droughts.

In this regard, TAAT and AfricaRice, working with the Africa-wide Rice Breeding Task Force, have developed varieties tolerant to key biotic and abiotic stresses. NERICA L19sub1 (submergence/flood-tolerant at the vegetative stage), aromatic ORYLUX 6 (Basmati group of rice), which are recognized for their excellent grain quality, taste, and early maturing, and hybrid ISRIZ 09 (AR051H) with excellent grain quality (long grain with firm texture) and good taste form part of the latest generation of rice varieties for Africa.

These new mega varieties are suitable for rainfed lowland ecology where there is limited or no water control and irrigated ecology where water control is practiced. Yields of up to 7 tons per hectare have been obtained with the inbred, while the hybrid recorded 9.9 t/h under farmer conditions in the Senegal River Valley.

To further scale these varieties across Africa and reach millions of farmers using the time-tested private sector-led and profit-oriented pathway, TAAT, in partnership with the African Seed Trade Association (AFSTA), has established the African Cereal and Legume Breeding Consortium (ACLBC).

Launched in Mombassa, Kenya, during the 2024 AFSTA Congress, ACLBC represents a contemporary step towards an integrated approach that builds on years of experience in plant breeding, agronomic research, and seed system development in Africa.

Within months, the consortium is already facilitating the sharing of genetic resources and breeding techniques for superior crop varieties with private seed companies while serving as an incubator for innovation in plant breeding technologies.

The cereal and legume-based consortium provides seed companies with high-yielding and climate-resilient seeds and access to three exclusive varieties/hybrids of Rice, Maize, Wheat, Sorghum, Millet, Soybean, and particular crops, including the High-Iron Beans (HIB).

Consortium members will have a Lead Access Period of 24 months exclusivity, subject to the technology provider's material transfer arrangements to commercialise these varieties/hybrids.

To achieve its objectives in a transformative way, ACLBC prioritises assisting the seed companies in developing their varieties/hybrids, providing technical assistance to seed companies to conduct multi-location adaptability tests of new varieties/hybrids, and strengthening the capacity of seed companies in hands-on seed production and maintenance techniques with an emphasis on hybrids to be well-positioned to reach farmers like Abou Camara all over Africa. 

Indeed, farmers are not averse to the uptake of new rice varieties. They require access to these varieties facilitated on the wheels of affordability, availability, and profitability, which is represented by the private sector interface of the African Cereal and Legume Breeding Consortium.