In a continent of abundant resources, fertile soil, and bustling rivers, it should be easy to feed, clothe, and sustain Africa’s populations through regional trade and local production. Yet, paradoxically, many African nations import essential goods from thousands of miles away while ignoring more affordable, higher-quality alternatives right across their borders—or worse, within their own borders.
The cost of these inefficiencies is not just measured in balance-of-payment deficits or foreign exchange strain. It reveals deeper dysfunctions in infrastructure, policy alignment, and economic coordination. These problems quietly undermine Africa’s aspirations of self-sufficiency, regional integration, and development-led trade.
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Take Angola, a nation flush with oil wealth but chronically dependent on external supplies for basic foodstuffs. The country imports milk from Portugal and New Zealand—two nations thousands of kilometres apart—despite South Africa producing 3.3 billion litres of milk each year, much of it surplus. In a region where transport corridors are improving and where Angola shares membership with South Africa in the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the decision to fly in milk from Oceania borders on economic irrationality.
A similar absurdity plays out in Ivory Coast, the world’s leading producer of cocoa beans. The West African nation ships its raw cocoa to factories in the United States and Europe, only to import finished chocolate at prices several times higher. The value addition—jobs, tax revenues, skills—is all exported. Meanwhile, Ivorian consumers and businesses pay dearly to re-import what they could have processed domestically. This enduring colonial trade pattern highlights the continent’s failure to invest adequately in agro-processing infrastructure, and its inability to climb the value chain.
“Development partners and DFIs (Development Finance Institutions) can play a catalytic role by funding regional infrastructure projects, such as transport corridors and food storage facilities, and by supporting SME processors in the agriculture and food sectors.”
The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), with the second-largest river system in the world after the Amazon, should be a seafood powerhouse. Yet, it imports fish from Asia and Europe to feed its population. The reasons are manifold: inadequate cold chain logistics, outdated fishing techniques, lack of investment in aquaculture, and a policy environment that fails to support domestic industry. The result? Local fishermen stay poor, urban dwellers pay high prices, and foreign producers laugh all the way to the bank.
Ethiopia offers another tragicomic example. The country spends over $500 million annually importing tomato paste, a staple in many of its traditional dishes. At the same time, millions of tonnes of fresh tomatoes rot in Ethiopian fields, victims of poor storage, lack of processing capacity, and supply chain bottlenecks. The wasteful irony is as red as the tomatoes themselves.
In Malawi, maize shortages often lead to emergency imports from far-off nations. Meanwhile, neighboring Zambia frequently has surplus maize. A shared border, cultural ties, and mutual economic need should make this an easy win for intra-African trade. Yet, poor communication, protectionist instincts, and underdeveloped cross-border logistics often stand in the way.
Mozambique, for its part, spends $34 million on Russian wheat, despite Zambia having over 250,000 tons of wheat in surplus. Given Zambia’s closer proximity and similar climate, this not only makes commercial sense but also strategic and environmental sense. Still, bureaucracy and trade barriers persist.
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Even more striking is the case of Zimbabwe, which imports chickens from Brazil, despite proximity to South Africa, a poultry-exporting giant. For a landlocked country with limited forex reserves and high inflation, this is economic self-sabotage.
These examples are not merely statistical anomalies or one-off blunders. They are symptomatic of a deeper malaise in African economic management. The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) was designed precisely to address such distortions by promoting intra-African trade. Yet its promise is undermined by persistent policy incoherence, weak transport infrastructure, and entrenched preferences for foreign imports.
The implications are profound
First, foreign exchange reserves are depleted unnecessarily, as hard currency is used to buy goods from distant countries instead of neighboring ones. Second, regional producers lose markets and scale opportunities that could make their industries more competitive globally. Third, job creation is stifled, as value-addition industries remain underdeveloped.
Moreover, climate impact cannot be ignored. Flying or shipping milk from New Zealand to Angola, or chickens from Brazil to Zimbabwe, is environmentally costly and undermines sustainable development goals.
What must be done?
For governments, the path forward lies in reviewing trade policies, tariffs, and customs practices that make it easier to import from Europe or Asia than from within Africa. Governments must also invest in cold chains, logistics, and agro-processing to reduce waste and unlock local production.
For regional blocs like ECOWAS, SADC, and the East African Community, there’s a pressing need to align standards, harmonise trade rules, and enforce cross-border trade agreements. The potential gains from such coordination are immense.
Development partners and DFIs (Development Finance Institutions) can play a catalytic role by funding regional infrastructure projects, such as transport corridors and food storage facilities, and by supporting SME processors in the agriculture and food sectors.
Private sector actors, too, must shed their dependence on foreign imports and invest in building continental supply chains. Multinationals and African conglomerates alike have a stake in reducing cost inefficiencies and supply vulnerabilities.
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Finally, consumers and civil society must push for change. Africa cannot continue to export cocoa and import chocolate, grow tomatoes and import paste, fish in rivers and eat imports. The time has come to rethink trade not just as an economic activity, but as a tool for resilience, sovereignty, and shared prosperity.
Because when Africa starts feeding itself—and doing business with itself—the world will finally begin to take it seriously.
Dr Oluyemi Adeosun is BusinessDay’s Chief Economist.
