São Paulo – African imports of food should drop this year and next due to the reduction in buying power in the region. According to information disclosed during the Food Safety and Sustainable Development Committee of the United Nations for Economic Commission Africa (ECA), last week, in Ethiopia, the continent imported 43 million tonnes of food products in 2011.
Of the total food that reached Africa from abroad last year, two million tonnes were donations. Imports should drop in 2012 and 2013, but the food aid from abroad should grow to 2.3 million tonnes.
The figures disclosed show that Africa continues not producing enough food to respond to the local demand, mainly grain. Currently, between 40% and 50% of the rice and 80% of the wheat consumed on the continent comes from the international market. Participants in the ECA meeting called on Africa to invest urgently in agricultural production to increase local food production.
At the ECA meeting, in which ministers, specialists and members of the civil society in African nations participated, also discussed were actions to be developed from 2014 to 2015, as well as the programme for food safety and sustainable development of the organisation. The information was disclosed by African news agency Panapress.
*Translated by Mark Ament
