Achieving Food Security and Sovereignty through the AfCFTA

This policy brief examines how the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) and the Comprehensive African Agricultural Development Programme (CAADP) can be leveraged to improve food security and food sovereignty across Africa. It identifies significant barriers to intra-African food trade, including high tariffs on sensitive food items, restrictive sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) standards for small enterprises, and a lack of coordinated strategic food reserves. The document recommends accelerating tariff removal, differentiating compliance requirements by enterprise size, and protecting indigenous genetic resources through intellectual property rights to build a more resilient and self-sufficient agricultural system.

• Intra-African food trade is relatively low, with only about 16% of Africa's total food trade occurring within the continent, although trade in staples is higher at 26%.
• Food self-sufficiency varies by region; while Sub-Saharan Africa is largely self-sufficient, North Africa has the lowest food self-sufficiency ratio at 76% and a high trade dependence of 24%.
• The AfCFTA's initial tariff offers show that many food products are categorized as sensitive (7% of line items) or excluded (3% of line items) from tariff removal schedules, limiting trade liberalisation.
• Sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) compliance costs act as a barrier to small-scale traders, adding an estimated 13% to the price of traded foodstuffs.
• The Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA) criticizes AGRA's model, arguing that patented seeds crowd out indigenous crops, compromise genetic diversity, and increase reliance on carbon-intensive fertilisers.
• The CAADP's 2026–2035 Strategic and Action Plan shifts focus toward agro-processing, mid-supply chain activities, and affirmative action for women and youth ownership in agricultural value chains due to limited progress in previous strategies.
• The document recommends establishing a continental policy framework for strategic food reserves to coordinate cross-border food aid and improve the efficiency of national reserve systems.
• There is a call to amend the AfCFTA Protocol on Intellectual Property Rights to include annexures on genetic resources and plant variety protection to support biodiversity and BioTrade.

APA

South African Institute of International Affairs (2025). Achieving Food Security and Sovereignty through the AfCFTA. https://saiia.org.za/research/achieving-food-security-and-sovereignty-through-the-afcfta/

Chicago

South African Institute of International Affairs. Achieving Food Security and Sovereignty through the AfCFTA. 2025. https://saiia.org.za/research/achieving-food-security-and-sovereignty-through-the-afcfta/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=South African Institute of International Affairs |title=Achieving Food Security and Sovereignty through the AfCFTA |date=11 August 2025 |url=https://saiia.org.za/research/achieving-food-security-and-sovereignty-through-the-afcfta/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{southafricaninstituteofinternationalaffairs2025achieving, author = {{South African Institute of International Affairs}}, title = {{Achieving Food Security and Sovereignty through the AfCFTA}}, institution = {South African Institute of International Affairs}, year = {2025}, month = aug, url = {https://saiia.org.za/research/achieving-food-security-and-sovereignty-through-the-afcfta/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }