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TWN
Info Service on Sustainable Agriculture Breaking away from the structural drivers of hunger in Africa The rise in fertiliser prices caused by the US-Israeli war on Iran has raised fears of a food price crisis. When international fertiliser prices spike, they tend to reach their most extreme levels in Africa. A new paper (Item 1) exposes how Africa痴 food systems are being absorbed into a militarised and securitised global political economy. As wars escalate and supply chains are weaponised, synthetic fertilisers and herbicides are no longer treated simply as agricultural inputs but as strategic assets. Decisions taken in distant centres of military, industrial, and technological power turn global conflict into local hunger and structural food insecurity. Breaking dependence on synthetic fertilisers and agrochemicals is not a technical substitution problem. The real barrier to a transition lies in the structures of power, policy, investment, and securitised supply chains that continue to privilege fertiliser‑ and agrochemical‑centred agriculture while marginalising ecological and farmer‑led systems. African farmers have, over generations, developed highly productive food and farming systems that do not require chemical fertilisers (Item 2). These systems are based on farmer knowledge, crop diversity and the use of traditional seeds and breeds adapted to local conditions. With the right support, African farmers can show the rest of the world the way out of the input-dependency and hunger trap. At the same time, there is a need to challenge the securitisation and enclosure of food systems and the structures that keep these in place. With
best wishes, 覧覧覧覧覧覧覧覧覧覧覧覧覧覧覧覧覧覧覧 Item 1 CRITICAL MINERALS, FERTILISERS, AGROCHEMICALS, DIGITAL POWER, AND THE EROSION OF FOOD SOVEREIGNTY Africa
entrapped in a securitised political economy Africa痴 hunger is not accidental. It is engineered. Our new paper exposes how Africa痴 food systems are being absorbed into a militarised and securitised global political economy謡here critical minerals, fertilisers, agrochemicals, digital infrastructure, and agricultural data are increasingly governed through corporate power, geopolitical rivalry, and national security doctrines far beyond the continent. As wars escalate and supply chains are weaponised, synthetic fertilisers and herbicides are no longer treated simply as agricultural inputs but as strategic assets. Decisions taken in distant centres of military, industrial, and technological power are transmitted directly into African fields, markets, and households葉urning global conflict into local hunger and structural food insecurity. The paper shows how African agriculture has been locked into externally controlled, mineral‑, chemical‑, and digital‑intensive systems, where disruption is no longer episodic but permanent. Digitalisation, rather than insulating food systems from volatility, deepens exposure by embedding farming within proprietary platforms, data extraction regimes, and infrastructural systems governed outside democratic reach. Crucially, the paper makes clear that breaking dependence on synthetic fertilisers and agrochemicals is not a technical substitution problem. Viable agroecological alternatives exist and are already practised across Africa. The real barrier to a transition lies in the structures of power, policy, investment, and securitised supply chains that continue to privilege fertiliser‑ and agrochemical‑centred agriculture while marginalising ecological and farmer‑led systems. We argue that food sovereignty is impossible without mineral sovereignty and digital sovereignty, including democratic control over digital infrastructure and agricultural data預nd that agroecology is not a technical fix but a political necessity. Rebuilding soil fertility through ecological nutrient cycles, biodiversity, and farmer‑managed knowledge is inseparable from confronting the political economy that produces dependency and vulnerability. This is a call to the food movement in Africa and globally: to confront the systems that manufacture it. If we do not challenge the securitisation and enclosure of food systems now, agriculture itself will become a permanent frontline of global conflict. 覧覧覧覧覧覧覧覧覧覧覧覧覧覧覧覧蘭 Item 2 CAN AFRICAN FOOD SYSTEMS THRIVE WITHOUT CHEMICAL FERTILISERS? GRAIN The rise in fertiliser prices caused by the US-Israeli war on Iran is a stark reminder of how dependent the global food system is on this chemical input. Fertiliser prices are increasing sharply, contributing to rising food prices, which could push millions more people into hunger. African countries dependent on food imports will be hit hard once again, and once again governments, donors and corporations will be selling fertilisers as a solution. Billions of dollars were ploughed into costly subsidy schemes and development programmes to increase fertiliser use by small farmers after the last global food price crisis in 2007-8. That approach failed to reduce food imports and drained public treasuries. But it did boost the profits of the few fertiliser companies that dominate African markets, where they charge sky-high prices. African farmers have, over generations, developed highly productive food and farming systems that do not require chemical fertilisers. They show a way out of the current impasse, made all the more urgent by the climate crisis and the massive emissions from chemical fertilisers. Read the full article at: https://grain.org/e/7375
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