With 66% of Africans dependent on agriculture for a living, the industry clearly has great importance for Africa. Many broader issues, such as trade and food security fall under the umbrella of agriculture, and AFJN attempts to pursue justice in agricultural policy while keeping the wider world in mind.

Explained by the World Food Summit of 1996 as “access by all people at all times to sufficient food for an active and healthy life”, food security’s provision is made more difficult by many factors out of the control of those Africans lacking an adequate food supply. AFJN actively lobbies on a number of these concerns, namely global trade and foreign agricultural policies.

Much of the global trading system is skewed against African farmers, as developing countries heavily subsidize their farmers while imposing tariffs on African agricultural goods. While the tariffs prevent sale in Western markets such as the United States, subsidies drive down prices everywhere and make it difficult for even local agriculture to develop. This creates food insecurity since the farms fold and local food production declines. It also prevents the development of cash crop industries, since they cannot compete with subsidized goods or enter protected markets. In addition, there is the question of whether genetically modified crops will, in the end, be helpful or harmful to African farmers and consumers.

Food aid usually fails to solve the problem of food insecurity and other situations for which it is intended. It can put local farmers out of business by competing with them for consumers, although the form the aid is delivered in will affect this. However, it can sometimes be used positively for projects with developmental aims, such as school feeding, and it clearly has a place in assisting those who otherwise could not afford food. It also has an important role in saving lives during emergencies, such as droughts or famine.

In keeping with our hopes for a more responsible US policy towards Africa, AFJN hopes for reforms allowing African farmers and people to reap the benefits of agriculture.