<\/p>\n
AU Chairperson Mahmoud Ali Youssouf made the call during a high-level event at the third Russia-Africa Summit in Moscow.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The event, titled \u201cRussia-Africa Agro-Industrial Alliance: Meeting the Challenges Together\u201d, was organised in partnership with the Russian Association of Fertiliser Producers.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Youssouf said Africa possessed extensive arable land and significant water resources but continued to underuse the continent\u2019s agricultural potential.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Only 6% of Africa\u2019s arable land is irrigated, leaving agricultural production heavily exposed to changing rainfall, drought and other climate-related shocks.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The continent imports approximately $100 billion in food annually, including rice, maize, wheat and edible oils.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Youssouf said addressing the imbalance required structural transformation across Africa\u2019s agricultural sector.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Priorities should include expanding irrigation infrastructure, improving access to fertilisers and strengthening domestic production.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
African countries should also invest in agricultural research, technology transfer and skills development to improve productivity and reduce reliance on imported food.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Developing regional and national value chains could let African economies process more agricultural products locally, increase domestic food supplies, and create jobs.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Youssouf said Russia could contribute to Africa\u2019s agricultural transformation through investment, cooperation and the transfer of technology and technical expertise.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Stronger engagement with Russian businesses and agricultural companies could help develop farming infrastructure and improve local productive capacity.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
However, Youssouf stressed that cooperation should support Africa\u2019s ability to build sustainable domestic industries rather than deepen external dependence.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The continent should use natural resources, agricultural land and human capacity to produce more food and retain greater value within African economies.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Higher domestic production could improve food security, reduce exposure to international supply disruptions and lower the cost of importing essential products.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Youssouf said sustainable food security ultimately depends on Africa developing agricultural systems that can supply domestic markets and support regional trade.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
–AU\/ChannelAfrica–<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":21152,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"news-type":[44,26],"class_list":["post-49360","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-finance","news-type-general_news","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"Africa must expand irrigation, fertiliser access and local agricultural production to reduce a food import bill of about $100 billion annually, the African Union (AU) says.","published_date":"","news_description":"Africa must expand irrigation, fertiliser access and local agricultural production to reduce a food import bill of about $100 billion annually, the African Union (AU) says.","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/49360","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/49360\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":49362,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/49360\/revisions\/49362"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21152"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49360"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=49360"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}