African Food Security: What Africa Eats and Trades
Ken Giller
In short
Lecture- 2 December
- 20:00h
- Impulse Wageningen Campus
- Speaker: David Luke
Many African countries rely heavily on food imports to feed their populations. Africa’s population is projected to reach 2.5 billion by 2050. Nourishing the world’s fastest growing continent is one of the defining global challenges of the 21st century. Trade has helped improve food availability, reduce prices, diversify diets, and enable specialization, which in turn contributes to income growth. At the same time, increased import dependence may undermine domestic production, displace traditional crops and knowledges, and create new vulnerabilities in the face of geopolitical tensions, trade disruptions, or political instability. How should growing food demand be balanced with ambitions for food sovereignty, autonomy, and economic development?
View more activities in our series
Series: African Food Security – A Wicked Problem
Food security is a wicked problem: a challenge shaped by interconnected causes, changing circumstances, and competing priorities. There is little consensus on the nature of the problem, or on the most effective solutions. Increasing agricultural production can put further pressure on land, water, and biodiversity, while environmental conservation can limit opportunities for agricultural expansion. International trade can improve affordability and diversify diets, yet also leave countries more dependent on external markets and undermine domestic producers. Likewise, increasing the quantity of food available is essential to reduce hunger, but a singular focus on calories may come at the expense of dietary quality. If food security is indeed a wicked problem, what does that imply for the way we debate it? Can we acknowledge competing objectives, question our own assumptions, and take alternative perspectives seriously? And can doing so help us identify more robust pathways towards food security?
About David Luke
David Luke is professor in practice and strategic director at the Firoz Lalji Institute for Africa and Extraordinary Professor at North-West University in South Africa.
Specialising in African trade policy and trade negotiations, Professor Luke has decades of experience in policy advisory services, managing and catalysing research, building partnerships, training and capacity development for the private sector and government. This experience stems from an extensive career spanning a tenured appointment at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Canada, and assignments at the African Union, the UN Development Programme and the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) with postings in Harare, Pretoria, Geneva, and Addis Ababa. At ECA’s African Trade Policy Centre, Professor Luke and his team were instrumental in the preparation of the protocols that make up the African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement. His PhD in African Political Economy is from the School of Oriental and African Studies and his MSc and BSc are from the London School of Economics and Political Science. His research and teaching interests are in the areas of trade in development; trade and inclusion; and trade and sustainability. He is a member of the board of TradeMark Africa.
Date
20:00 - 22:00