NAIROBI, Kenya, May 20 — Foreign Affairs Cabinet Secretary Raychelle Omamo has called for structural reforms to revamp agriculture in Africa in a bid to promote self-reliance.
Omamo made the appeal during a Food Security Ministerial led by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
“The effect of the war in Ukraine on food and fertilizer supplies needs to lead us to undertake structural reforms in our Agricultural sector in Africa,” Omamo told the ministerial session convened at the United Nations in New York on Thursday.
“We need to reflect on Africa’s unfavorable integration into the world economic order and our susceptibility to shocks from afar,” the CS when on to state.
Omamo also called for the recalibration of the global order to promote independence in a bid to address what she described as dependency to external actors, something she noted was entrenched.
“We need a global order that will release Africa from the shackles of dependency, from a State in which Africa is unable to make its own decisions. We need to return Africa to a state of self-reliance,” she said.
The Cabinet Secretary also called for the depoliticization of food security and sustained efforts to silence wars in order to ensure a free flow of supplies.
“It is time that we must make and take bold actions. Our actions must solve problems in multiple ways and create solutions that are multifaceted. We must seek to achieve SDG 1 and 2,” CS Omamo said while referring to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty and hunger.
She noted that diplomacy remained critically to ensuring stability in the global supply chains which she admitted had been destabilized by the ongoing war in Europe.
Omamo also urged a revamped multilateral approach to reform agriculture, create employment, affordable food and access to wealth.
She noted that it is imperative that nations share knowledge on emerging challenges and work on reforming global institutions to help stressed nations survive and ensure debt relief to those who need it.
The Blinken-led ministerial session sought to develop a mechanism for a resilient global food security response through a multilateral approach.
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