31/08/2026
𝐇𝐚𝐬 𝐟𝐢𝐱𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐀𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚’𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐬𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐚𝐧 𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐲 𝐢𝐧 𝐢𝐭𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟?
After years of working across African food value chains, I find this question increasingly difficult to ignore.
In many cases, the proposed solutions do not come from within, and when they do, they rely heavily on external support.
Even worse, by the time the support comes to an end, either the solution has still not been found or what has been built is not sustainable.
Then the circus starts all over again around yet another project.
Sometimes several projects even run simultaneously, addressing the same challenge and targeting the same beneficiaries “the usual suspects,” let’s say.
Yet Africa’s food systems continue to underperform and remain poor at feeding the population, let alone being competitive.
If a support system is built around a problem, does it necessarily have an interest in making itself unnecessary?
Before asking who should fix Africa’s food systems, maybe we should ask who created the current system, who defines the problems and who has the power to decide what the solution should be.
Who should play the biggest role in reversing this dynamic?
And what would a significantly different approach look like?
𝐔𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐥 𝐰𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐞 𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬, 𝐟𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐬𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐭𝐲 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐩𝐡𝐫𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐦 𝐫𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐢𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥.
hashtag hashtag hashtag hashtag hashtag
