If we feed people the market will take care of itself

The combination of the climate crisis and Africa’s rising dependence on energy and food imports is a recipe for a disaster.

Africa has been a victim of food and energy crises for decades and now the continent is in the grip of another crisis. Fuel prices and food costs have soared beyond reach for many households. The high prices have left these households struggling to make ends meet.

Farmers are also feeling the heat as reliance on expensive farm input imports such as fertilisers and pesticides causes them to incur debts. The burden is mostly felt by small-holder farmers, who form the backbone of Africa’s food systems. The result is food shortages and high food prices.

Africa’s food system lacks sovereignty. Multinational corporations control the supply of input, farm production and food distribution. Farmers, therefore, earn less for their produce and families pay more for their food.

Unfortunately, African governments are also singing to the chorus of producing energy and food to feed the market. As the Ukraine conflict persists, policy makers in the continent are calling for more gas development to feed the European market. Governments want to invest Africa’s limited financial reserves into fossil fuel extraction and export for European consumption, digging Africa into a hole.

The bad news is that Europe already has plans to move away from fossil fuels in a couple of years. Africa will be stuck with redundant fossil fuel infrastructure and will have run out of funding for the expansion of renewable energy. Additionally, such investment would increase local pollution and further cement Africa’s energy poverty and high fuel prices.

The future does not have to look like this. There are various actions that can be taken inside and outside of Africa to ensure that the continent has the capacity to feed itself and power its prosperity.

If our food systems were independently built, Africa would not have to rely on imports of key commodities such as fertiliser and oil. We would have home-grown solutions. Hence, the case for ecological farming and using renewable energy to farm.

For Africa, to tackle the climate crisis, the continent’s limited resources need to go into programmes and policies to build resilient and independent energy and food systems. We need to build and support ecological practices such as low-till farming, soil protection and rainwater harvesting.

Instead of promoting and calling for energy and food investments that will further exacerbate the fuel and food crisis, African governments need to invest in community-led and owned initiatives. The focus should be on community-led crop improvement, establishment of community seed banks and community-owned energy systems to ensure food and energy sovereignty.

Any policy or programme that is going to effectively deal with the challenges of fuel and food prices bearing down on Africa must focus on the main actors in Africa's energy and food systems: the local farmers and communities.

International cooperation between Africa and its partners should not worsen the crisis by for instance, making deals to exploit gas in Africa. Instead, let’s leverage the pacts between Africa and its international partners to promote programmes and policies that will end the food crisis and energy poverty. Partnerships with African governments must increase energy access in Africa and enable it to urgently meet the energy needs for the people, including providing clean cooking solutions.

It’s time for Africa to invest in feeding its people, not the market. Africa needs people-centred energy and food systems.

The energy and food crisis we currently face must sound a wakeup call to African policymakers. New policies geared toward ending dependence on fuel and food imports should be in place. Africa can realise energy and food sovereignty to respond to the climate crisis.

Amos Wemanya is Power Shift Africa’s Senior Renewable Energy Advisor