‘Zim to be net exporter of grain’

The secretary-general of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), Wamkele Mene has said the AfCFTA Secretariat is working with the Government of Zimbabwe to ensure that the country becomes a net exporter of grains in the next five years.

Mene said the move is to build the capacity of African countries with the comparative advantage of grain production and to stop the over-reliance on the importation of the commodity from countries like Ukraine and Russia.

The secretary-general was speaking at the maiden sustainable supply chain summit of the International Chamber of Commerce Africa in Accra on Wednesday (29 March) under the theme “Sustainable Supply Chain for Economic Growth in Africa”.

He said the AFCFTA is committed to building productive capacities of African countries to take advantage of their agricultural advantages.

“. . . It is, therefore, more important than ever to accelerate economic and market integration to ensure that we enable our continent to respond to these challenges . . . from a trade perspective the challenges present an opportunity, so what appears to be a crisis is an opportunity . . . Many of us are not aware that Zimbabwe has annually US$200 million worth of excess grains and these excess grains go to waste because of a lack of capacity to store and process the grains and export them to the rest of the continent.

Mene said, “The challenge for all of us is to establish supply chain networks, technologies and capabilities that will enable not just Zimbabwe but also Malawi, Ethiopia and any other country that has the capacity to export and provide food security for the African continent to do so.”

He added, “We should establish the tools and requisite investment that will enable African self-sustainability in agriculture, an agro-processing and requisite supply chain that will support trade in agriculture product in Africa.”

“I’m happy to inform you that we (AfCFTA Secretariat) are working with the Government of Zimbabwe; we have set ourselves the target of five years for Zimbabwe to be a net exporter of grains for the rest of the continent using the excess capacity and processing the excess capacity that already exists.”

“We have an interest in this because we want to see more trade in agricultural products in Africa,” he said.

The two-day summit will serve as an annual platform to exchange ideas and collaborate on the impact of market dynamics and new technologies for current and future supply chain and operations leaders.

This maiden event creates an opportunity to examine how to navigate supply chain disruptions within the AfCFTA as well as how sustainable supply chain management, advanced technologies, process improvement, and automation are being rolled out and can be leveraged in Africa.

Overall, about 17 speakers and over 100 participants are expected to attend the two-day event both in-person and virtually. – Asaase Radio 99.5