Why Africa Must Decolonise its Food System Now- HOMEF 

…Launches My Food is African Campaign 

By Ekemini Simon

The Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF) has called on Africans to return to the consumption of natural African food instead of dependence on imported food or over processed food which it tags as food colonisation.

HOMEF says most of the imported food crops which are genetically engineered are gradually causing extinction of the African food crops and its consumption is also behind the many strange illnesses experienced today.

The charge was made on Monday, December 12, 2022 at the launch/ inception meeting of My Food is African campaign organised by HOMEF in collaboration with the Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa(AFSA).

According to HOMEF, the campaign is geared towards influencing the development of a cohesive food policy, bring together the sectoral policies on food and agriculture and realign them to build a healthy food environment, promote healthy diets for all, re-balance power in food system, and to involve a wider range of stakeholders in designing and assessing policies.

The project is also focused on achieving the objectives of developing a favourable policy and framework and make citizens shift from the consumption of unhealthy foods to embracing healthy foods.

Speaking on ‘Food, culture and colonialism’, the Director of HOMEF, Nnimmo Bassey noted that the notion propagated by the West that Africa is short of food is faulty. He explained that Africa is rather blessed with a variety of food only that the continent has been cornered to consume a few of her food.

Bassey, while pointing out that it is a colonial notion that Africa can’t be fed without industrialised agriculture, noted that the best way to ensure sufficient food in Africa is to allow the continent to enjoy food sovereignty by maintaining its own food system and consuming its food.

He explained ” Our forebears selected the best seed for cultivation. That is why we had high yields and the crops were preserved. We are also a multi- cultural society which is the reason we have a huge variety of food crops.

” To show that we are blessed with rich African food, we have food festivals like the new yam festival and fish festival”. 

The HOMEF Director assured that when Africans consume the right African food which grows in its season coupled with consumption of clean water and fresh air, they can be sure of good health.

Bassey who stressed that food is a component of spirituality offered insight to the fact that dependence on food that is aligned to one’s environment, at consumption it will cause imbalance to one’s system within his original environment.

Tracing food colonialism to slavery, HOMEF Director noted ” Slavery happened because some people needed people to act as machines in their plantation. Plantation agriculture is a colonisation idea for cash crops; they think of exporting to earn money.

” Most of the investment in industrial agriculture today is for export whereas Africa produces to sustain themselves within. The fact is that plantation agriculture is a major disrupter of the food system.”

Bassey decried government porous checks and sometimes willing acceptance of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) through genetically improved seedlings which he said has detrimentally affected the African food system. He said by somewhat forcing and tricking people to adopt these genetically modified seedlings, they are left with zero option but to go back to buy more and in the process causing thousands of African food to be lost. 

Also speaking, Dr Jackie Ikeotuonye, Country Director for Biointegrity and natural foods awareness initiative, explained that the impact of processed foods results in increased risk of variation of health problems.

She said ” 70 percent of our calories now come from highly processed food. They are not in sync with our system. We now have high ultra-processed food which is processed with additives among other chemicals. Consuming a lot of this has been linked to several diseases.

“Cancer is on the rise because Africans have moved from consuming natural foods to highly processed food”. 

 Ikeotuonye raised concerns on the negative impact of Monosodium glutamate, a flavour enhancer added to foods especially canned foods, crackers and even in baby foods.

She charged Africans to go back to their old cooking methods and embrace eating natural African foods instead of depending on processed foods.

Donald Ofoegbu, Project Coordinator at hbs Nigeria and AAPN recommended a switch to agroecology, citing its success in Yangoje farm.

He insisted that agroecology can solve most of Nigeria’s socioeconomic and environmental problems.

While explaining a research conducted on the assessment of food policies by Joyce Brown of HOMEF, she informed that Agriculture encounters challenges such as neglect in the research system, poor market system, limited access to credit and among others.

The research also recommended Nigeria to strengthen her planning and coordination of policy on food and also establish a governance platform to provide and protect standards for healthy and safe foods.