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The potential for Africa to feed itself and self-finance its needs in a post-USAID world is immense, but it requires visionary leadership, strategic investment, and a collective African commitment to addressing systemic challenges. African leaders must prioritize food security, climate resilience, and economic self-sufficiency to unlock the continent’s potential. With a youthful population, vast arable land, and abundant natural resources, Africa is uniquely positioned to not only meet its own needs but also become a global leader in sustainable agriculture and resource management. However, this vision demands a shift from dependency on foreign aid to innovative, homegrown solutions that empower communities, leverage technology, and address the pressing challenges of climate change. Food Security and Climate-Smart Agriculture Food security remains a critical concern for Africa, particularly in the face of climate change, which disproportionately affects the continent. Erratic weather patterns, prolonged droughts, and flooding threaten agricultural productivity, particularly in regions like the Sahel and East Africa. However, agriculture also presents a solution. By adopting climate-smart farming practices—such as agroforestry, conservation agriculture, and precision irrigation—African farmers can increase yields, restore degraded lands, and build resilience to climate shocks. Countries like Ghana, Kenya, and Nigeria have already made strides in promoting sustainable farming methods, but scaling these efforts requires greater investment in research, infrastructure, and farmer education. African leaders must also prioritize value addition and quality improvement in agricultural products to compete in global export markets. For instance, Ghana’s cocoa and Kenya’s tea are globally recognized, but Africa’s share of processed agricultural exports remains low. By investing in agro-processing and meeting international quality standards, African countries can capture more value from their raw materials, create jobs, and boost incomes for smallholder farmers. Empowering women, who constitute the majority of Africa’s agricultural workforce, is also critical. Women-led cooperatives and access to land, credit, and technology can drive transformative change in rural economies. Self-Financing and Economic Diversification Africa’s ability to self-finance its development hinges on leveraging its vast natural resources and diversifying its economies. The mining sector, particularly in countries like South Africa and the Democratic Republic of Congo, has long been a source of revenue, but greater focus is needed on local beneficiation and value addition. Similarly, the agribusiness sector offers untapped potential for job creation and income generation. Nigeria, with its large population and arable land, can become a regional breadbasket, while Egypt’s expertise in irrigation and water management can be shared across the continent. Regional integration through bodies like ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States) is essential for fostering trade, harmonizing policies, and addressing food security collectively. For example, Liberia’s fertile land and Ghana’s agricultural expertise can complement each other, creating a robust regional food system. Furthermore, Africa must embrace innovative financing mechanisms, such as green bonds and public-private partnerships, to fund infrastructure projects and climate adaptation initiatives. The Role of the African Public and Key Concerns – Post USAID Africa In a post-USAID Africa, the public stands to benefit from increased job opportunities, improved access to affordable food, and greater economic stability. However, this requires addressing key concerns. Corruption, inadequate infrastructure, and unequal access to resources are key concerns requiring change in a post USAID Africa. Climate change remains an existential threat, and African leaders must prioritize adaptation and mitigation strategies, including reforestation, renewable energy, and sustainable land management agriculture. Agriculture serves as a cornerstone for income generation and job creation, particularly for youth and women. By promoting regenerative agriculture—a practice that restores soil health and sequesters carbon, Africa can address both food security and climate change. Countries like Kenya and South Africa are already pioneering regenerative practices, but scaling these efforts requires policy support and investment. Africa’s future in a post-USAID world is one of immense opportunity, but it demands bold leadership and collective action. By prioritizing food security, embracing climate-smart agriculture, and leveraging its natural resources, Africa can feed itself, create jobs, and drive sustainable economic growth. The general public will benefit from increased incomes, improved livelihoods, and a healthier environment. However, success depends on addressing systemic challenges, fostering regional cooperation, and empowering marginalized groups. With the right strategies, Africa can transition from aid dependency to self-reliance, becoming a global leader in sustainable development and a key player in meeting the world’s resource needs. Key countries like Congo, Ghana, Nigeria, Egypt, South Africa, Kenya, and Rwanda, along with the entire region, must lead this transformation, demonstrating that Africa’s future is not just about survival but about thriving in a rapidly changing world. Read more… Impact of American Policy on Africa – Post USAID The termination of USAID programs during the current Trump’s presidency significantly reshaped the development landscape in Africa. While the reduction in aid posed immediate challenges, it also catalyzed a shift towards greater self-reliance and local ownership of development initiatives. President Trump’s policy emphasized bilateral trade agreements over traditional aid, which positioned Africa to leverage its resources more effectively and attract investment through mutually beneficial economic partnerships. African nations responded by strengthening regional trade agreements, such as the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), to reduce dependency on foreign aid and build resilient economies. By focusing on intra-African trade, countries developed new markets for their products, diversified their economies, and boosted local industries. Additionally, the emphasis on security and counterterrorism under Trump’s policy led to increased military cooperation and capacity building within African security forces. This helped stabilize regions affected by conflict, creating a more favorable environment for economic growth and investment. African governments also sought to assert greater control over their development agendas, prioritizing policies that aligned with their long-term goals of sustainability and self-sufficiency. Strengths for Agricultural Trade in Post-USAID Africa 1.Diverse Agro-Ecological Zones: Africa has a wide range of climates and soils, enabling the production of diverse crops, from tropical fruits to cereals, coffee, cocoa, and spices. This diversity can cater to various global market demands.  2. Growing Youth Population: A young and increasingly educated workforce can drive innovation, mechanization, and value addition in agriculture, making African products more competitive globally. 3. Untapped

The colorful markets of West Africa are often dominated by strong women. They control prices, carry the highest sales records in the market, control distribution, provide loans, work in some cases as a bank, they impact financial security to the community level and determine who can buy their goods. These women rule the market and are treated with deference. Thanks to their business acumen, they have amassed a great deal of wealth. These women are affectionately referred to as Mama Benz. The additional impact market women businesses have, is they also directly hire women to work for them. This enriches the strong bond that control aspects of the African Market Culture for successful businesses. The other market women look up to the Mama Benz Women, to this end, perhaps one day they too will attain such success and become a Mama Benz or a Cash Madame. The name Mama Benz or Cash Madame means financially successful powerful woman impacting her fellow women while serving her community and contributing to many livelihoods. In African countries, women are actively engaged in sectors such as agriculture, manufacturing (clothing and textiles) and services. Opportunities from trade have brought more household resources under women’s control, which in turn has a positive effect on overall investment in the health and education of future generations. But women are also heavily employed in several sectors that continue to undergo adjustment and change due to trade liberalization, such as agriculture and textiles. More work is needed to understand whether there are differences in how women fare in trade adjustment. It is estimated that 70 per cent of informal cross-border trade in Africa is conducted by women traders. Being well positioned, women are the untapped resource to be an economic growth accelerator of Africa’s economy especially under the Women and Youth in Trade Protocol. Intra-African trade is currently estimated to contribute an income for about 43 per cent of the continent’s entire population but intra-African trade accounts for just over 10 per cent of total continental trade. Regional trade in East Africa alone accounted for only 8.3 per cent of total trade in 2017, less than the continental average, and unchanged over the past five years, according to report by the African Development Bank. UN Women works with regional bodies on the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) and AfCFTA Secretariat to address challenges that (young) women face when trading and to position them more strongly in the future of intra African trade. We at CMF Ventures USA-Ghana embark upon a mission in supporting women farmers and thrive to collaborate with women globally to make a change for Women, Planet and People. Share the Post: Related Posts Post-USAID World: A Path to Self-Reliance and Sustainable Growth April 8, 2025 The potential for Africa to feed itself and self-finance its needs in a post-USAID world is immense… Read More Agriculture Impacting Food Security Fighting for Gender Inequalities in Farming February 29, 2024 Agriculture is more likely than other sectors to provide diverse opportunities for empowering women… Read More Food Security Ghana & Broader Africa February 28, 2024 The global community is currently experiencing our third food price crisis in fifteen years… Read More

Agriculture is more likely than other sectors to provide diverse opportunities for empowering women. However, women farmers are held back by barriers that prevent them from feeding their families and reinvesting in their livelihoods. Women face restrictions related to their gender while also experiencing the financial struggles shared by all small-scale farmers. Women do not receive the same support as men farmers do. They have less access to land, loans, and machinery. Women are heavily involved in domestic activities including caring, cooking and cleaning, which remain hidden economically. Women are disproportionately affected by climate change and face greater exposure to climate risks due to the same barriers that reduce their productivity. About 80 percent of the world’s food is produced by small-scale farming. Women make up on average 43 percent of this agricultural labor in developing countries. They are the majority in some countries. Growth in small-scale agriculture is two to four times more effective at reducing hunger and poverty than any other sector, and women farmers are playing a significant role. They produce a huge amount of food for their families and surrounding communities. Yet, little action has been taken to ensure that they have the resources they need to improve their livelihoods, tackle food insecurity, and build their communities’ resilience to climate change. The Private Sector, Institutions, People, and Governments must break down the barriers that are holding back women farmers and preventing them from accessing critical farming inputs. They must ensure women have secure land rights and provide women with vital funding and support for farming and adapting to climate change. Such support would protect their rights and boost their productivity. It would unleash the potential of hundreds of millions of women farmers to effectively reduce poverty and hunger. Women are changing the face of agriculture, adapting, and innovating to tackle the challenges of climate change, and feeding the continent’s growing population. African women are actors along the entire agricultural value chain, as farmers, livestock breeders, food processors, traders, farm workers, entrepreneurs, and consumers. Share the Post: Related Posts Post-USAID World: A Path to Self-Reliance and Sustainable Growth April 8, 2025 The potential for Africa to feed itself and self-finance its needs in a post-USAID world is immense… Read More African Market Woman – Mama Benz February 29, 2024 The colorful markets of West Africa are often dominated by strong women. They control prices, carry… Read More Food Security Ghana & Broader Africa February 28, 2024 The global community is currently experiencing our third food price crisis in fifteen years… Read More

The global community is currently experiencing our third food price crisis in fifteen years (2007-2008, 20011-2012, 2021/2022 and beyond) and, as with previous events, many of the drivers of the current food crisis are systemic linked to commodity