On Thursday, 7 March, Task Force Rural Africa published its final report, which includes an action plan to strengthen EU-Africa cooperation and develop a sustainable agri-food sector in Africa.
The report marks a turning point in the process of strengthening EU-Africa cooperation in the agri-food sector, identifying four strategic areas for action in the medium and long term: job creation, climate action, sustainable transformation of African agriculture, and expansion of the food industry and food markets in Africa.
The group of African and European experts called for a partnership at three levels: interpersonal, business-to-business and intergovernmental.
Josefa Sacko, African Union (AU) Commissioner for Rural Economy and Agriculture, said the report demonstrates that farmers and the food industry should work together to “exploit the new opportunities that the African Continental Free Trade Area will provide and establish the regional markets necessary for Africa's long-term food security”.
Twinning, innovation hubs. Based on some of the short-term recommendations, the European Commission will start by implementing the following projects: - twinning and exchange programmes between African and European agricultural organisations; - AU-EU forum on the agri-food sector; - innovation hubs to bring together national research systems.
The Commission will launch an online consultation to gather feedback from African stakeholders on the strategic approach adopted by the task force and on the state of play with regard to trade and cooperation in the agri-food sector between the two continents. The results of this consultation will be taken into account at the Third AU-EU Ministerial Conference on Agriculture, which is expected to take place in Rome in June 2019.
The report contains recommendations “on how the Commission, with Member States and African partners, can improve cooperation with regard to agriculture and rural areas”, a source told the Commission. The source mentioned that, in his State of the Union speech last year, President Jean-Claude Juncker stressed the importance of the private sector and sustainable investment in creating jobs for young Africans in rural areas. Agriculture provides food for Africans and the global market and also creates jobs in the agricultural sector and in the whole value chain.
A member of the working group pointed out that there is an “increased demand” in African countries for agricultural products and there is a “race” to find out whether this demand will be met by the African agricultural sector or by imports from the EU, Australia, the United States and Brazil.
In both West and East Africa, there are a lot of problems regarding harmonisation of food safety rules. The EU is lending its expertise to help African countries develop value chains, including through training programmes on sanitary and phytosanitary matters, the source explained. The source confirmed that there is great potential for job creation in the agri-food economy in Africa and that efforts must be made not only to focus on export markets, but also to expand operations in African markets (cereals, fruit and vegetables, livestock). (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)