AfCFTA offers pathway to greater food security 

Mold, in a presentation on the link between trade and food security to delegates at a side event of the 2025 ECA Conference of Ministers, cited ECA’s forthcoming report, Improving Food Security in Eastern Africa Through Greater Intra-Regional Trade –A Review of the Issues. It argues that there is a pathway to greater food security through the concept of collective regional food security.

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization, Africa accounted for 41% of the world’s undernourished population in 2023, up from 24% in 2000. 

And its food import bill is large, putting scarce foreign exchange reserves under pressure. In 2023, Africa spent more than $83bn importing foodstuffs.

Yet, we should not be beguiled by aggregate figures, argued Mold. “It is the net performance that ultimately counts, and Africa is a significant food exporter. Food exports to outside the continent reached nearly $62bn in 2023. 

Largely unnoticed, Africa’s food trade deficit improved markedly in 2023, to $22bn, a decline of $25bn in a single year.

Even that figure is misleading, he stressed, as the deficit is driven by a handful of large food importers – principally North African countries, Nigeria, and Angola. 

Mold conceded that while some countries in Eastern Africa struggle with financing their food imports, collectively the deficit is quite small, representing just 0.3% of regional GDP.  

Farayi Zimudzi, FAO Representative for Ethiopia, highlighted the need for investment in R&D to transform productivity. “We must invest in research towards high-yielding varieties, whether it’s crop seeds or genetics for livestock.”

She said Africa’s high population growth rate underlined the urgency of boosting food productivity. Zimudzi argued that Africa needed to invest more strategically in irrigation given climate change challenges.

She urged policymakers to find ways to attract investors to drive transformation in agriculture. “Governments cannot do it by themselves.”

Channing Arndt, Director and Research Professor, Center for Global Trade Analysis, Department of Agricultural Economics at Purdue University, underscored the critical need for timely production data.

“By timely, I mean at harvest. You’re supposed to be producing data so that market participants can make decisions about where to buy, and where to sell. That’s supremely important.” He noted that timely quality data would give African players an edge.