“A Roadmap for African Food Sovereignty”
NAMING THE WOUND. DEFINING THE CURE. GIVING THE PRESCRIPTION.
By Fortune Madondo
Reclaiming Our Plates
Every year, Africa sends US$100 billion abroad to buy food — that is more than what Africa spends on health and education combined. At the same time, Africa sits on 60–65% of the world’s uncultivated arable farmland— an estimated 600–874 million hectares of unused potential that lies here on African soil².
Behind these statistics are mothers in Harare (Zimbabwe) paying double for cooking oil, children hooked on some cheap ultra- processed imported foods in Cape Town (South Africa), families going hungry in Bentiu (South Sudan), and fishers in Dakar (Senegal) watching foreign boats empty their seas.
– The United Nations (UN) projects that Africa may produce only 13% of its food needs by 2050³.
– In Senegal, foreign trawlers fish in waters that coastal communities have relied on for generations.
– In the Sahel, families are displaced from farms their ancestors cultivated for decades.
– In West Africa, 40% of the rice consumed is imported⁴.
– Southern African countries relying on imported inputs [fertiliser and feed from Gulf states] experienced an 80% price hike in February 2026 amid Iran–United States tensions⁵.
– The closure of the Strait of Hormuz — a global chokepoint through which some 30% of global fertiliser supplies, such as urea and phosphate, transit — increased costs for African countries⁶.
– A recent Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) report highlighted African nations most reliant on agri-Gulf imports: 57% of Malawi’s fertilisers originate from the region, followed by Namibia (53%), Seychelles (52%), Uganda (51%), South Africa (51%), Madagascar (45%), and Kenya (38%)⁷.
This level of dependence raises serious concerns about future food security on the continent. This is not only a crisis of production. It is also a crisis of policy and governance. Right now, food sovereignty in Africa faces three major pressures: high import dependency, increasing climate shocks, and the growing influence of corporate-controlled agriculture.
Food sovereignty is not just about farming. It is about who decides — who determines what Africa eats, how it is grown, who benefits, and who is left behind. The question is not simply: Can Africa feed itself? The more important question is: Do African farmers, communities, and nations have control over how food is grown, preserved, processed, distributed, and consumed? Who governs Africa’s food — from seed to plate? The answer will shape Africa’s plates, Africa’s health, Africa’s economies, Africa’s future, and Africa’s self-determination.
What Is Food Sovereignty?
According to the Nyéléni Declaration, 2007:
“Food sovereignty is the right of peoples to healthy and culturally appropriate food produced through ecologically sound and sustainable methods, and their right to define their own food and agriculture systems”.⁸
It is also the right of people, communities, and nations to define their own agricultural, labor, fishing, food, and land policies. In short: It is Africa’s right to land, water, food, and to set the rules that govern food systems.
As a movement, food sovereignty calls for peasant farmers, fishers, pastoralists, women, youth, and indigenous peoples to lead, alongside governments, research institutions, and the private sector.
As a strategy, it seeks to rebalance food systems, reduce over-reliance on external policies and imports, and build systems owned and managed by Africans.
As advocacy, it challenges practices that profit from hunger and inequality.
As a right, it calls for healthy, culturally appropriate food for every African child.
As public dialogue, it questions the assumption that Africa must rely only on GMOs or charity to feed itself.
As Pan-Africanism in practice, it holds that there is no African sovereignty without food, and no African freedom without the ability to feed ourselves.
Six (6) Pillars/Principles of Food Sovereignty
1. Food for People, Not Only Profit
Healthy, sufficient, culturally appropriate food is a human right, not only a commodity.
2. Value Those Who Feed Us
Peasants, pastoralists, fishers, women, youth, and indigenous peoples should lead, with support.
3. Localise Food Systems
Link African farmers to African consumers. Reduce reliance on long import chains.
4. Localise Food Governance
Promote community rights over land, water, fisheries, and seeds.
5. Build Knowledge and Skills
Pass on seeds, skills, practices, and wisdom to the next generation.
6. Work with Nature
Agroecology is a key approach to addressing the climate crisis.
Origins of the Term
At the 1996 World Food Summit, while countries negotiated trade agreements, the Global South debated how to organise food systems and agricultural policy. La Via Campesina, the International Peasant Movement, coined the term and defined the struggle as food sovereignty.
The Focus of Food Sovereignty
Food sovereignty asks four fundamental questions:
1. Who controls the food system?
2. Where does the food come from?
3. How is it grown?
4. Who makes the rules?
From seed to market to plate: if Africa does not own and govern it, Africa cannot direct it. If Africa does not control its seeds, prices, and supply chains, it risks building economic systems that benefit others more than Africans. That creates long-term vulnerability.
Why Africa Must Act Now?
Africa must act now. Millions of children still go hungry while food prices rise. Farmers face eviction. Indigenous communities experience land pressures. Too many African governments prioritise external markets over local needs. From seed regulations in Kenya to land pressures in the Sahel to foreign fishing in West Africa, the challenges are already present. Food sovereignty puts people at the centre — not just corporations, not just imports, not just aid.
Why Food Sovereignty Matters?
Food sovereignty empowers communities to produce food that is ecological, social, and cultural.
It places the people who grow, distribute, and eat food at the centre of decision-making alongside markets and institutions.
It prioritises human needs alongside economic growth. It *protects the next generation’s* right to land, food, and dignity.
As a collective right, it reframes how we understand poverty and hunger. It seeks to strengthen the relationship between people and land, between producers and consumers.
While many governments pursue top-down, market-driven policies, food sovereignty calls for inclusive, bottom-up approaches rooted in people and communities. There is no African sovereignty without food and no African freedom without the ability to feed Africa healthy food.
Assessing the Current Corporate Model
A key challenge is the focus on large-scale business and short-term profits. Over the past decade, African governments, with support from external partners, have changed laws and regulations, offered tax incentives, allocated land and funding, and created special economic zones to attract agribusiness investment. However, the expected private investment, whether in contract farming or plant breeding, has in many cases not materialised or has underperformed⁹.
This is not inevitable.
Ethiopia cut wheat imports by 50% between 2022 and 2024 by investing in irrigation and domestic production¹⁰. Ghana has also made strategic strides to curb its heavy reliance on imported tomato paste and fresh tomatoes, launching the National Tomato Production Strategy (2026–2030) and public-private partnerships. Efforts target scaling up domestic yields, boosting local processing infrastructure, and reducing import dependency by up to 40%¹¹.
Thus, the rest of Africa should follow suit.
If Africa continues on its current path — importing food, exporting raw materials, and outsourcing policy decisions — the cycle of dependency will continue. Africa’s food sovereignty will not come only from donor-funded declarations or conferences. Africa must assess the evidence and act decisively.
Way Forward: A 5-Part Roadmap
Reclaim Policy and Governance
1. Reclaim agricultural policy space. Ensure African governments set priorities for what, how, and for whom we produce, in line with the Maputo and Malabo declarations.
2. Regulate corporate influence. Put safeguards on corporate control of seeds, land, and food policy. Protect against patents on life.
3. Protect community rights. Enshrine community rights to land, water, fisheries, and indigenous knowledge in national constitutions and laws.
4. Create accountability frameworks. Citizens and parliaments must demand results from governments and institutions on food production outcomes.
Invest in African Food Systems
5. Meet the 10% investment target. Allocate at least 10% of national budgets to agroecology, irrigation, rural infrastructure, and small-scale farmers.
6. Invest in smallholders. Finance local seed systems, storage, and value-addition so farmers can grow, process, and distribute more food within Africa.
7. Integrate research with practice. Link universities, extension services, and farmers to scale what works locally.
Empower People
8. Empower youth and women as leaders. Equip, finance, and trust change agents — youth and women — to drive innovation from the ground up.
Reduce Dependency
9. Reduce food imports strategically. Set a target to cut Africa’s food import bill by 30% by 2035 through the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) and the development of regional value chains, while maintaining trade that benefits Africa.
Closing Thought
The choice facing Africa is between continued dependency and African food sovereignty. Between hunger and dignity. Between external control and self-determination. Which future will Africa choose? The time to decide is NOW!!!
The AU member states must present and adopt a binding five-year food sovereignty roadmap at the 2027 AU summit, with annual progress reports. Africa’s commitment to food sovereignty should be:
“We, the people of Africa, commit to promote, protect, and advance food sovereignty in every village, market, school, and parliament. We will conserve our seeds. We will feed our children. We will strengthen our continent. Until every plate is full.
This World Food Day, let Africa choose dignity over dependency.
F. Madondo (African Teacher) fortmada123@gmail.com
