Following South Africa’s emergence as the first African country to assume G20 presidency focus is on expanding impact in areas such advancing inclusive economic growth, food security and artificial intelligence. Meanwhile, the creation of the Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty, championed by President Lula da Silva of Brazil continues to receive commendations. Ibrahim Mayaki, African Union Special Envoy for Food Systems joins CNBC Africa for more on how Africa can leverage the G20 and this alliance to achieve its development outcomes.
Following South Africa’s emergence as the first African country to assume G20 presidency focus is on expanding impact in areas such advancing inclusive economic growth, food security and artificial intelligence. Meanwhile, the creation of the Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty, championed by President Lula da Silva of Brazil continues to receive commendations. Ibrahim Mayaki, African Union Special Envoy for Food Systems joins CNBC Africa for more on how Africa can leverage the G20 and this alliance to achieve its development outcomes. Thank you so much for your time on the show today, sir. And we're looking at the development so far and I'm looking at the progress so far. After seven years of lobbying to be part of the G20, we've seen that full membership come on board last year in India. And now the presidency is now moving to South Africa. I'd like you to speak on these developments that we're seeing play out here and how this could advance Africa's interest, especially at the global stage where we're seeing that the continent has been long criticized for not having a consensus. Well, thank you for inviting me. Let me draw a quick historical contextualization and remind ourselves that at the origins of the G20, there was a financial crisis that led G7 countries, the industrialized countries, to open up to emerging economies in order to provide financial stability in a context which was quite difficult in terms of economic cooperation. So that's how the G7 added 12 emerging economies. It became G19 and then the European Union came in as the 20th member. So it was natural for the African Union to pursue that path of integrating the G20 in order to have a place as the European Union in discussing financial stability, economic cooperation, development issues. And it was particularly important because of two reasons. The first one, Africa has moved quite impressively towards its regional integration mechanisms. There are a lot of defaults and limits, but we are moving. And secondly, in a context of global uncertainty, it is quite important that Africa has a voice on the global political scene, especially in a context of weak multilateralism. When the G20 was created, multilateralism was quite strong. Today we are shifting towards a world which has a weak multilateralism, high protectionism, which is developing and the US will get into that, and not only the US, many other parts of the world. And we are shifting in a context where international rules no longer really apply. So we might be in a world without rules. And in that world of uncertainty and complexity, Africa needs to provide its political position and defend its interests. Yeah, interesting times when you talk about Africa defending its interests here, because I'm going to look at some of the outcomes from Rio here. And when you look at that, the launch of the Global Alliance Against Hunger was a key part of that conversation here. And I like to read out a quote from the President of Brazil that he gave when this was being launched. He talked about hunger and poverty are not the result of scarcity or natural phenomena, that they are a product of political decisions in a world that produces almost 6 billion tons of food per year. He says this is highly unacceptable, and it's for those of us in the room who are speaking to the participants there at G20 around this table to face the undelayable task of ending this thing that shames humanity. And he says that will be their biggest legacy. I'd like you to respond to this and how critical it is to address the challenge of hunger and poverty globally. This quote is very correct, because we see the issue of food and food security becoming issues of security, national security, global security. And the issues of food are being geopoliticized. It's absolutely correct that it is not a lack of food that exists. We even have surpluses of food. But the ways in which the distribution, the allocation, and the responses to the needs, the ways this is being made is evidently not appropriate, because it has a direct linkage with power relationships. And this is why Brazil, which has been a leader, I mean, for many years, since the first two mandates of President Lula, they pushed for this type of alliance regarding hunger and poverty. And evidently, hunger and poverty are very closely linked. Why is it important? As I was saying, multilateralism is weak, so the multilateral mechanisms that currently exist cannot help us solve the issues that we are facing, for example, in terms of food insecurity. So we need new initiatives with a new dynamism, with critical minorities, and we need to tackle the weaknesses of the system in a coordinated way. And I think in this context, South-South cooperation will be absolutely essential. And that's why I hope that South Africa, when it chairs the G20, will pursue the global alliance and will, together with the African Union, insist on the measures that need to be taken in order to fight hunger and to fight poverty. I am chairing a coalition which is called the Zero Hunger Coalition, and there are two aspects, factors that we are pushing. The first one is synergies between all the actors globally who are working on the issues of food insecurity. And the second factor is to really push Africa, because Africa is a priority for us in that Zero Hunger Coalition, to push Africa to have common policies regarding food systems. And this is the way we are leading. We just designed the post-Malabo strategy, which has to do with the next 10 years of food systems transformation in the continent. And in that post-Malabo strategy, we push towards a linkage between food infrastructure and trade, because we cannot solve the issues related to food insecurity if we do not improve infrastructure in terms of transport, storage, connectivity, and if we don't link our strategy to trade issues, and notably the African Continental Free Trade Agreement. So it's this triptych, food infrastructure and trade will be the main axis, strategic axis that we'll use in order to provide food security in the continent. And this is not contrary to the Global Alliance. The Global Alliance is global, our post-Malabo strategy is continental, and synergies will be built between the two. Yeah, it's really great to see the extensive thought that has gone into putting this together. But I'd still like to continue that conversation of Africa as a solution to these challenges here. And I read a piece you put out on the Telegram, co-writing with Pascal Lamy there, and in that book it has quite a very interesting headline. You talked about the destiny of the planet, relying on African agriculture, and I'd like you to expand on this a little. Well, three quick points. The first one, Africa is the region which has the largest proportion of arable land. Even if we know that land is being degraded because of climate change, and we need to make efforts, but still we have the largest proportion of arable land. Point number two, in terms of labour and labour productivity, worker productivity has increased in Africa in the last 10 years, but we could do much better to have better yields. But we have sufficient labour in order to develop Africa's agriculture. Point number three, technically we have made strong advances, whether it is in irrigation, but it is not enough. Whether it is in mechanisation, it is not enough. But we have made advances, especially in terms of scientific knowledge that can help us have better productivity. So if we put all of us together and we look at the next 30 years, because FAO, the Food and Agriculture Organisation, is telling us that in the next 30 years there will be a shortage of food in the world. So Africa is well positioned to tackle that challenge. But before tackling the challenge of global food insecurity, we should first of all feed our own people. And this is very important, because currently many small-scale farmers in Africa are facing hunger, which is not normal, because they produce 80% of what we eat. So self-interest is looking first of all at feeding our own people, and then help tackle the global food shortage that will happen in the next 30 years. And I repeat again, we will not be able to do it by focusing only on agricultural, on sectoral issues regarding agriculture. We'll need to improve immensely infrastructure, and then connect producing regions, because we'll not be able to produce. Well, it is not desirable that we all produce the same thing. Evidently, we will have to connect the regions which are producing different commodities in order to have an intra-Africa trade of agricultural goods much higher than the one we have today, even if we are in the good path, because we have tripled intra-Africa trade in the last 15 years. All right, we have just about a minute left on this conversation, but I'd like to bring up something very critical. Yes, we know that the continent has potential. Like you rightly said, we have about 65% of the world's uncultivated arable land. We know about the demographic dividend of the continent, the budding youth population. The challenge here, yes, is area of funding, and also how then would we strengthen our food systems for resilience. These are key issues, because if we're going to chart a course to prepare the continent for the next decade, quite a lot of work still needs to be done, especially in the area of funding our agro industrialization. I'd like you to speak to this. Absolutely, you are absolutely right. The path would be agro-industrialization. We'll not reinvent the wheel. The basis of our industrialization will be agro-industrialization and manufacturing, evidently, because it's food manufacturing that will create the jobs. The numbers are massive. 20 million jobs to create in the next 20 years, which is 400 million jobs. But an important point is integration. If China had 54 countries, China wouldn't be where it is today. So Africa needs to tackle fragmentation and have common policies, and this is integration. If integration doesn't happen speedily, we'll have enormous challenges in terms of tackling development. So that's a critical point. The second point is that we need leadership much more convinced that at the core of our development strategies, there needs to be the transformation of our agri-food systems, and this has to do with agro-industrialization. Regarding funding, we are in a post-ODEA era. ODEA will no longer exist in the few years to come. So we need to increase our domestic resource mobilization, and we can do that because our fiscal pressure is very low compared to all the other regions of the world, and we need to have investable projects that can attract private investors, and particularly institutional investors, and we can do that, you see. All right, thank you so much for your time. I really appreciate your time on the show today. Ibrahim Mayake, the African Union Special Envoy for Food Systems.
Theme: Africa's strategy to utilize the G20 presidency and the Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty to drive economic growth and food security on the continent amidst a changing global landscape
Africa is at a pivotal moment in history as it leverages key platforms such as the G20 presidency and the Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty to advance its development outcomes. The continent's emergence onto the global stage is marked by South Africa's assumption of the G20 presidency, a milestone achieved after years of lobbying for full membership. This move signifies Africa's growing influence in shaping discussions around economic growth, food security, and artificial intelligence. Ibrahim Mayaki, the African Union Special Envoy for Food Systems, sheds light on how Africa can harness the power of the G20 and the Global Alliance to drive its development agenda forward. The continent's participation in the G20 is crucial as it ensures Africa has a voice in global economic cooperation and decision-making processes. In a world where multilateralism is waning and protectionism is on the rise, Africa must assert its interests on the global stage. The Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty, championed by President Lula da Silva of Brazil, underscores the need to address the root causes of food insecurity and poverty. The alliance emphasizes that these issues stem from political decisions rather than a lack of resources, highlighting the need for coordinated efforts to combat these challenges. Mayaki stresses the importance of South-South cooperation in addressing food insecurity and poverty, calling for a united front in tackling these urgent issues. He emphasizes the need for synergies between global and continental initiatives to promote food security, such as the Zero Hunger Coalition and the post-Malabo strategy. Africa's agricultural potential is highlighted as a key solution to global food insecurity, with the continent possessing the largest proportion of arable land and a burgeoning youth population. Mayaki underscores the importance of investing in agro-industrialization and strengthening food systems for resilience to ensure sustainable development. However, challenges remain, particularly in securing funding for agro-industrialization and enhancing integration among African countries. Mayaki calls for increased domestic resource mobilization and the development of investable projects to attract private investors. The path to Africa's sustainable development lies in transformative leadership, integration, and economic diversification through agro-industrialization. As the continent navigates a rapidly changing global landscape, strategic investments in food security and economic growth will be paramount to securing a prosperous future for Africa and its people.
"The path to Africa's sustainable development lies in transformative leadership, integration, and economic diversification through agro-industrialization."
['Africa', 'G20', 'Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty', 'food security', 'economic growth', 'agro-industrialization', 'development outcomes', 'multilateralism']