Africa’s agribusiness industry needs solid legal systems

SO far, the agricultural sector in Africa seems to have weathered the storm reasonably well.

Africa is operating in a situation of radical uncertainty, and so all we can do is try and design strategies that will be more or less robust regardless of the pandemic’s outcome.

COVID-19 has exposed the fact that the continent is a net importer of food, which needs to be reversed.

That said, I don’t think it completely changes the game, and we’re not expecting a complete breakdown in international supply chains.

You still have to focus on being internationally competitive and being able to deal with the fact that chicken meat can be exported from Brazil to southern Africa at very low cost and rice processing costs in Asia are a fraction of what they are in Africa.

African agri-businesses need to tap into the global health and wellness trends by exporting organic products from Africa to Western markets.

This is because there is value in full traceability back to the farmer who supplied the product and there is assurance that banned chemicals haven’t been used, coupled with sustainable and equitable trade relationships with farmers.

Other countries have relatively small economies, but have a history of commercial agriculture in tobacco, sugar and to some extent tea and an investment climate that is very good for agriculture.

There is also a strong overall supportive environment. For example, Malawi has a solid legal system.

It’s relatively painless dealing with the authorities, and you can get things done.

Some companies have invested there since about eight years ago and have businesses in poultry, macadamia, sugar and peanuts which are all doing well.