As the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) secretariat intensifies efforts to improve the storage and export of agricultural commodities throughout the continent, there appears to be an end in sight for the enduring issue of food wastage and its impact on food security.
AfCFTA’s Secretary-General, Wamkele Mene, said the move had gained increased importance.
He said that the secretariat has started working with Zimbabwe, where a lack of storage and processing options causes the country to lose more than US$200 million worth of grain every year.
According to estimates, one-third of the worldwide food is wasted, resulting in annual economic losses of almost US$1 trillion. According to estimates, there is an estimated percentage, which is roughly 37 per cent in sub-Saharan Africa, which is a little higher.
According to a report by the Global FoodBanking Network (GFN) and the Harvard Law School Food Law and Policy Clinic (FLPC) published in 2022, as much as 3.2 million tonnes of food may be lost or wasted in Ghana along the supply chain, costing the country a loss of almost GH762.32 billion.
According to another estimate, the nation loses 23% of its grains, 40% of its root crops, and 27% of its fruit and vegetables per year. Meanwhile, moderate to severe food insecurity affects 50% of the population.
The Secretary-General is hopeful that the emergence of a legal framework for trade on the continent, the AfCFTA, and some of its key tenets – the agreement on the transit of goods, the harmonisation of Customs processes, as well as the policy on trade facilitation, will spur the efforts.
“We are working with the government of Zimbabwe and we have set a target… Zimbabwe must be a net exporter of grains by processing the excess capacity that already exists,” Mr Mene said at the first-ever Africa Sustainable Supply Chain Summit held in Accra,
“We have an interest in this as the secretariat since we want to see more trade in agricultural produce across the African continent,” he added.
