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To ensure food security, Africans must not only think outside the box, but smash them! The Kenyan Somali and Maasai communities are engaged in very interesting trade links that best illustrate how to “smash the box.” Somali herders “export” emaciated sheep and goats to Elang’ata Wuas market and sell each animal at $30 and $35 respectively. The Maasai herders fatten and sell them back to the Somali at $55 and $65 each. This remote market next to Magadi railway comes to life every Saturday to defy the forces of nature and keep Somalis supplied with sheep and goats.

The Kenyan Somali traders have defied nature (drought). The Maasai on the other hand have not ethnicized their market. Relevant infrastructure (connectivity) is in place and the local government plays its regulatory role effectively. Located 2 hours drive off the Nairobi – Namanga road; a keen observer will note that while the Maasai do not produce grain and leafy greens, this same market connects them to producers from other parts of Kenya.

The basic lesson from the Kenyan Somali – Maasai interaction is that traditional tools used to fight famine such as irrigation, fertilizer, access to quality seed and animal health products among others fail to hit their target because of exclusionary politics and bad infrastructure. Drought and population growth are innocent! The north of Kenya currently ravaged by famine is largely inaccessible by road. The political atmosphere in Kenya is such that leaders have created ethnic enclaves to drive up individual political bargaining power at the expense of peoples’ livelihoods. What the Kenya-for-Kenyans initiative and international donors do is to sustain this odd culture that keeps populations in perpetual dependency. 

"Un-smashed boxes" such as lack of individual productivity geared policies; negative ethnicity; state capture by local and international elites; donor dependency; corrupted mindset (software); global food systems and geopolitics, among others, fuel famine episodes on the continent. 'Un-smashed boxes" cloud strategies food security strategies. While the global capacity to produce food has increased; structural weakness (in political governance and infrastructure) and warped policies (low funding towards agriculture, poor resource management and over reliance on external prescriptions) have denied Africans the opportunity to be food secure.

Africa features prominently in the Food Security Risk Index whose famines are induced by man-made factors (maplecroft.com; accessed September 1,2011). Wealthy nations’ policies facilitate overproduction of food and sustain a food aid infrastructure geared towards securing markets (The determinants of food aid provisions to Africa and the developing word: accessed September 1, 2011). Famine is caused by lack of bargaining power by Africa’s smallholder farmers that comprise 65% of the continents population. Political instability, weak governing institutions and donor interests marginalize smallholder farmers on the continent.

To enable Africa to be food secure, it’s important to interrogate the role of aid efforts designed to simply create food markets for wealthy nations at the expense of productivity on the continent. Fighting famine in Africa is not only about increased productivity but also ability to connect to markets and to be competitive globally. Famine is the cost Africans are paying to be democratic in a highly ethnicized atmosphere. Famine is the cost Africans are paying to sustain a warped global food system. Africans need to take a closer look at the Food Security Risk Index map to figure out the “boxes” that ought to be smashed in order to make the continent food secure.

By James Shikwati

The author [email protected] is Director of Inter Region Economic Network .