Annual consumer inflation was unchanged at 3.2% in February at 3.2%, with increases registered in housing and utilities, food and alcoholic beverages and restaurants and accommodation offset by decreases in the services sector, Statistics South Africa said on Wednesday.
(Guillem Sartorio/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
As African countries buckle under escalating food prices brought about by Russia’s war against Ukraine, a United Nations agency has called for the activation of what it calls Africa’s own Marshall Plan.
The rescue plan — designed by and for African countries — aims to absorb future shocks as the continent struggles to secure commodities such as wheat because of the war in eastern Europe. Up to 32% of the continent’s wheat imports come from Russia and 12% from Ukraine, effectively throwing millions into food despair.
Countries across the continent have seen the price of basic commodities, such as bread and cooking oil, shoot up since the outbreak of the war, with some prices surging by between 30% and 50%.
“The most vulnerable are paying the price,” Wafa Aidi, an economist at the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), said during a call this week on the impact of the Ukraine-Russia war on commodity and food prices in Africa.
“Africa needs to recalibrate its food production to meet actual demand in the continent. It needs to activate its own Marshall Plan.”
The Marshall Plan was the economic rescue project that helped rebuild post-World War II Europe and UNECA technocrats believe a coalition of African countries could similarly work towards ensuring food security on the continent.
The UNECA says the Ukraine-Russia crisis will leave more than 310 million Africans food insecure this year, with a further 6 million experiencing extreme hunger as a result of the conflict.
“African countries should prioritise the implementation of the Africa Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) to mitigate the continent’s exposure to regions outside the continent,” Aidi said.
The AfCTA was launched last year but still awaits ratification by all member states.
If Africa had built its value chains, especially in the agro-foods sector, countries would probably not be so vulnerable to global events, according to Stephen Karingi, director of the regional integration and trade division of UNECA.
“We are having our food markets experiencing a shock that is actually coming from outside the continent. This is because we have very low intra-African trade in agriculture and agro-foods,” Karingi said.
There are concerns that Africa’s food crisis could lead to increased malnutrition, with humanitarian agencies already sounding alarm bells about rising starvation in countries such as South Sudan and in the Horn of Africa.
“The Marshall Plan, which we present as the AfCFTA, offers an opportunity to trade in value-added agro-products within African countries themselves,” Karingi said.
Africa’s exports of largely raw materials to developed countries has left the continent exposed to volatile international markets, experts contend.
“Africa is highly dependent on the export of commodities, which leaves the continent vulnerable to price swings and external shocks, with little control over stabilising export revenues,” said Aidi.
According to UNECA, Africa would be well served by investing more in fertiliser production as a bulwark against food insecurity. The bulk of the global fertiliser nutrients come from Russia.
“It is important to improve the production of fertiliser in Africa and recalibrate its production to meet actual demand in the continent,” Aidi said.
Some African countries have programmes of subsidising local farmers with commodities such as fertiliser but those interventions have fallen short in ensuring food security in the face of the Ukraine-Russia war, with domestic production still taking a hit from the rising cost of inputs.
This story was made possible by the M&G Guardians Project in partnership with the Adamela Trust.
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