Self Sufficiency

22 September 2009

A poll was conducted at the end of 2008 in British Columbia, Canada assessing opinions towards agriculture, food and agri-food products in British Columbia.

One of the interesting results to us was that 91% of residents believed that it was important that British Columbia produces enough food so they don’t have to rely on imports from other places. The concept of a global economy and benefiting from the most efficient agricultural areas across the world through the supply of relatively cheaper food is obviously not of great importance to the residents of British Columbia.

There is no doubt that Africans would feel just as strongly, if not more strongly, as the British Columbians that their nation should not be relying on food imports. The benefits of self sufficiency in Africa include saving the foreign currency required to finance imports, stabilizing prices and assisting in maintaining political stability.

Sadly, the desires of Africans does not match the reality on the ground as according to the FAO Malawi, Mozambique and Zambia between 2000 and 2007 were net importers of maize (corn) to the tune of over 1.7 million tones.

We believe that Malawi, Mozambique and Zambia has sufficient rainfall, soils, etc. to become self sufficient in its major crops. We also believe that the crops can be produced at a cost that will be lower than the import parity price. Creating self sufficiency will be economically efficient for Africa and will also meet the desire of each country to be self sufficient.