Africa Should Stop Importing Food

As Dr Akinwumi Adesina once said, " The World's future  Billionaires will not come for Oil or Tech Industries but from Agriculture, and they will be from Africa. .

I was born in poverty, but today all I see are opportunities.

I see opportunity in agriculture.

I see opportunity in Africa.

I see opportunity in our young people.

I see opportunity in our land.

I see opportunity in building a continent that feeds itself and the world.

Across Africa, Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) principles, Good Agricultural Practices (GlobalG.A.P.), regenerative agriculture, agroecology and climate-smart farming are will open new doors to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. I believe this is Africa's moment, and I have chosen to be part of that transformation. I am rising, and I want to lead an agricultural revolution.

To every young African, I have one message:

Rise up. Return to your land. Grow high-value crops. Build processing facilities. Create world-class products. Export them across the globe.

The next generation of African billionaires—and perhaps even trillionaires—will not only come from technology, finance or mining. Many will come from agriculture. Agriculture is not a sector of the past; it is Africa's greatest gateway to prosperity.

The Bible speaks of God's blessing on nations that include Egypt and Cush, regions closely associated with Africa. In Isaiah 19:24–25, Egypt is called "My people," a passage many Christians see as a powerful picture of God's blessing and restoration. I believe Africa's greatest days are still ahead.

 

I am nothing more than an ordinary man with an extraordinary dream.

A dream to help transform Africa's food system.

A dream to restore dignity to farming.

A dream to see millions of young Africans building successful businesses from the soil beneath their feet.

How can a continent that possesses approximately 60% of the world's remaining uncultivated arable land continue to import billions of dollars' worth of food every year?

Consider just a few examples of annual food imports:

• Botswana – approximately US$700 million

• Zimbabwe – approximately US$1.8 billion

• Zambia – approximately US$1.1 billion

• Namibia – approximately US$700 million

• South Africa – approximately US$7 billion

• Mozambique – approximately US$2 billion

• Kenya – approximately US$8 billion

• Tanzania – approximately US$3 billion

• Ghana – approximately US$4 billion

• Nigeria – more than US$10 billion

• Ethiopia – approximately US$5 billion

• Egypt – more than US$20 billion

Together, African countries spend well over US$80 billion every year importing food, despite possessing the natural resources to become one of the world's greatest agricultural powerhouses.

This should not be Africa's story.

Africa should be feeding Africa.

Africa should be feeding the world.

 

I dream of an Africa where young people proudly return to their land instead of searching endlessly for jobs. I see farms becoming profitable businesses, villages becoming production centres, rural communities becoming industrial hubs, and processing factories creating value from everything we grow. I see exports replacing imports and agriculture becoming the engine of industrialisation, economic growth and lasting prosperity.

Every great movement begins somewhere.

Mine begins with Moringa as an Anchor Crop.

Around it, I am building Agriculture-Based Clusters (ABCs)—structured Special Purpose Vehicles that bring together farmers, land, water, finance, technology, processing, certification, traceability, governance and international markets into one coordinated agricultural ecosystem.

This is not simply about growing crops.

It is about building industries.

It is about creating jobs.

It is about attracting investment.

It is about empowering women and young people.

It is about restoring hope.

It is about changing Africa's story.

History is full of people who started with very little.

Inventors once worked in small workshops before changing the world.

Entrepreneurs started with nothing more than an idea before building global companies.

Athletes trained in silence before becoming champions.

Their beginnings gave no indication of the extraordinary futures that awaited them.

That is why you should never judge your life by your current chapter.

The business you are struggling to build.

The degree you are pursuing.

The farm you are planting.

The content you are creating.

The dream you are protecting.

These may all be laying the foundation for a future greater than you can currently imagine.

Millennials and Generation Z are living through one of the most exciting periods in human history. Artificial intelligence, technology, entrepreneurship and innovation are creating opportunities that previous generations could never have imagined. Those who continue learning, adapting, innovating and persevering will become the people who shape tomorrow's Africa.

One day, when I am long gone, I hope history will not remember me because of titles or positions. I hope it remembers that I believed Africa could feed itself. That I believed agriculture could eradicate poverty. That I believed ordinary people could build extraordinary futures from the land. That I planted seeds—not only in the soil, but in the hearts and minds of millions of Africans.

Today's ordinary moment could become tomorrow's historical photograph.

So keep believing.

Keep building.

Keep planting.

Keep creating.

Keep leading.

Because history is still being written.

And I believe—with all my heart—that Agriculture will transform Africa's story.

#AgricultureBasedClusters #MoringaRevolution #FoodSecurity #AfricaRising #YouthInAgriculture #ValueAddition #ExportAfrica #RegenerativeAgriculture #ClimateSmartAgriculture #ESG #GlobalGAP #FarmerPrideInternational #HuntersGlobalNetwork #TransformingAfrica