NAIROBI — Constraints and risks faced by smallholder farmers in Africa make it difficult for many of them to compete against imports, according to speakers at last week’s AGRF virtual summit. Because of this, grocery stores across the continent are flooded with food from abroad, reducing access to a market worth billions of dollars for many local farmers and agricultural companies.
“What are we doing? We are exporting wealth and we are importing poverty,” said James Nyoro, governor of Kiambu County in Kenya.
The continent imports, on average, about $72 billion per year of food. Some of the top food imports include wheat, vegetable oil, sugar, rice, dairy, meat, fish, and maize — products that are all produced on the continent.