In April of this year, the Oxford Business group released its “Agriculture in Africa 2021: Focus Report”. This report outlines the region’s export potential and food security challenges in the face of the detrimental impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. It also explores how the creation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) and the modernization of agricultural processes are generating growth opportunities across the agricultural ecosystem.

The report shows how the COVID-19 pandemic weakened already precarious food security in Africa through reductions in income and disruptions in the supply chain. Prior to the pandemic, food security was already a major concern in the region, with the most affected being fragile and conflict-afflicted states. Of the 86 countries worldwide that are categorized as low-income and food-deficient, 43 of them are located in Africa. Indeed, according to the Africa Center for Strategic Studies, over 100 million Africans faced crisis, emergency, or catastrophic levels of food insecurity in 2020.

At the same time, due to its abundance of arable land, Africa has the potential to meet its needs as well as those of the rest of the world when it comes to food supply. More specifically, the authors of the report suggest that closing the gender gap and empowering farmers traditionally restricted in their access to finance and technologies can create major gains when addressing food insecurity.

Read the full article about closing the gender gap and reducing hunger by Tamara White at Brookings.