Why Africa's Relevance Globally is Directly Tied to Its Self-Sufficiency
Exploring How Africa Can be Self-Sufficient
Hello rafiki 😊
Welcome to the Not an Afterthought Newsletter. We lead the conversation on how to accelerate Africa’s socio-economic development with a particular emphasis on the role technology will play in fueling economic growth that will make Africa not an afterthought!
“Russia and Ukraine fought, and it shook the whole world. If today, Kenya and Tanzania or Tanzania and Uganda had a tiff, who would it shake?”
That was the question that one of the speakers—Dr. Jacky Mkindi—posed at a women’s conference in Arusha, Tanzania.
Now I am posing it to you.
As You Contemplate, Consider This
Africa hosts five of the world’s top 30 oil-producing nations. As of 2019, these five countries produced 7.9 million barrels per day.
In the same breath, Africa imports 1.77 million barrels of petroleum products per day, and the daily demand is 4 million barrels per day.
You look at these numbers and realize that the five African OPEC countries can meet the oil demand in Africa and still have extra for export to countries outside of Africa.
Of course, that rate of intra-African trade would have to be higher, and these countries would have to build the capacity to refine the crude oil in-house.
Still, the fact remains that oil-wise, Africa is capable of becoming completely self-sufficient.
Next Up, Food
It is well-known that Africa has 65% of arable land, and much of it is underutilized.
The incredible thing is that even with the underutilization of land, in 2021, Africa beat out all the other regions in the world to record the highest rate of agricultural production growth since 2000.
Agricultural production has been rising at such a high rate that some African countries are net agricultural exporters—meaning they export more than they import.
Between 2018 and 2020, Kenya, Ghana and Ivory Coast had more than $5 billion in net agricultural trade surplus per year.
Africa still imports a lot of food—85% of its food, worth approximately $35 billion—but many fail to mention while quoting these numbers that less than five African countries account for most of these imports.
What do these statistics tell you?
If some African countries can export more agricultural products than they import without utilizing the land maximally, then Africa can very easily feed itself and become self-sufficient food-wise.
Why Does Self-Sufficiency Matter?
This article started with a question, If today, Kenya and Tanzania or Tanzania and Uganda had a tiff, who would it shake?
The issue is not the ability to shake the world, it is the implication behind it.
If you have the capacity to shake the world, then it means you are economically powerful and globally relevant.
Self-sufficiency matters because it makes you relevant and powerful—just like it has done for Russia.
In May, The Economist published a post about how Russia’s economy was back on its feet and discussed the many reasons it was resilient to sanctions. One of those reasons was self-sufficiency.
For Africa to become as relevant globally, she must first pursue self-sufficiency.
P.S
I started this newsletter to explore the various ways of making Africa, not an afterthought.
After the conference, I realized that working to make the continent not an afterthought is a vehicle toward one destination—a self-sufficient Africa.
I hope you do not join me on this journey because it will be glorious.
If this is your first time here, here are a couple of issues that you might have missed.
Are You Traveling Across East Africa? Get Yourself An Airtel Sim Card
Frequently Asked Questions About The East African Community
Dissecting the East African Community’s Customs Union: How Has it Benefited EAC Citizens?
Building and succeeding in Africa: How Safaricom Did It
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