The President emphasized the urgent need for global reforms to address inequality, mounting debt, and the imbalance of power within international institutions. He underscored Zimbabwe’s commitment to sustainable development, inclusive growth, and global cooperation, asserting that progress in Africa must be matched by fairer global economic structures.

In a bold statement, President Mnangagwa also revealed Zimbabwe’s intention to seek a non permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council for the 2027–2028 term. He said the move reflects Zimbabwe’s readiness to contribute meaningfully to international peace, security, and development.

The Doha summit brought together global leaders to discuss strategies for reducing poverty, promoting equality, and fostering global solidarity themes that resonated strongly with Zimbabwe’s message of shared progress and reform.

First, let’s talk potential. Africa is sitting on a goldmine—60% of the world’s uncultivated arable land. That’s right, 60%! Agriculture is already 35% of our GDP, employing more Africans than any other sector. Our agricultural market is worth $280 billion today, and with the right moves, it could hit $1 trillion by 2030. Look at Ethiopia: they expanded wheat production from 50,000 hectares in 2018 to 650,000 by 2022, wiping out wheat imports and exporting to Kenya and Djibouti. That’s the Africa we all want—a continent that feeds itself and the world! But here’s the reality check. Despite this potential, one in five Africans goes to bed hungry. 140 million of us face acute food insecurity. Why? It’s systemic barriers, some homegrown, some imposed from outside.

Barriers to Food Security in Africa 

Number one: underinvestment. In 2003, African governments signed the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme agreement, promising 10% of their budgets to agriculture. In 2021, the average was a measly 4.1%. Senegal’s excelling at 11%, and their sector’s thriving, but most countries are falling short. Number two: a financing gap. Africa needs $27 to $65 billion a year to transform agriculture, but banks lend just 3% of their portfolios to farming, even though it’s 29% of our GDP. High interest rates—often over 20%—and demands for collateral worth five times the loan lock out smallholder farmers, who produce 80% of our food. Mila Aziablé, Togo’s Minister of Water and Sanitation.

Then there’s the supply chain mess. Poor roads, outdated ports, and bad storage mean they lose 30% of our food imports before they even reach the market. Mechanization? Only 4-5% of our farms use modern equipment, compared to 95% in the US. Irrigation? Just 6% of our arable land, versus 70% in Asia. Add weather shocks—droughts, floods—and external disruptions like the Russia-Ukraine war, which cut 30 million metric tons from global food supplies, spiking prices. It’s a stacked deck.

The globalists and their corporations holding Africa back

Now, let’s talk about the elephant in the room: globalists and their corporations. Are they holding Africa back? You bet they are, and the numbers don’t lie. Let’s start with land grabs. Since 2000, foreign companies—mostly from the West and Asia—have snatched up 30 million hectares of African land. That’s the size of Italy. In Mozambique, 2.7 million hectares went to agribusiness for cash crops like palm oil, not food for Africans. These deals, often backed by global institutions like the World Bank, push smallholder farmers off their land, undermining the very people feeding the nations.

Then there’s trade. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries pump $250 billion a year into agricultural subsidies, letting them flood African markets with cheap goods. Take EU poultry exports—$1.2 billion annually. They’ve crushed Ghana’s poultry industry, where local production dropped 40% between 2010 and 2020. Or US cotton subsidies, $20 billion a year, which tank global prices and hurt farmers in Mali, where cotton is 15% of GDP. These globalist trade rules, pushed by the WTO and EU agreements, keep them dependent on imports while intra-African trade—only 15% of our exports—languishes.

Seed Monopolies: 60% Controlled by Multinationals

And don’t sleep on the seed game. Global agribusiness giants like Monsanto, now Bayer, control 60% of commercial seeds in sub-Saharan Africa. Their GMO and hybrid seeds force farmers to buy new ones every year, jacking up costs.

 In Nigeria, Bt maize raised input costs by 30% for smallholders, with no guaranteed yield boost. Compare that to Vietnam, which tripled cereal yields since 1980 by investing in local inputs. We’re locked into a system that profits corporations, not farmers.

Africa has been overshadowed by colonial legacies and donor-driven policies

Willis Ochieng, Executive Director of the Centre for Rural Empowerment and Agricultural Transformation for Sustainability says reviving indigenous knowledge is key to addressing food insecurity and climate change in Africa, I don’t agree with his sentiments on Climate Change because we know it’s a hoax but Ochieng argued that Africa already possesses deep-rooted, sustainable practices, but these have been overshadowed by colonial legacies and donor-driven policies.

Then there’s debt. The IMF and World Bank’s structural adjustment programs in the ‘80s and ‘90s forced countries like Zambia to slash agricultural subsidies by 50%, leading to a 20% drop in maize production by 2000. Today, African countries spend 25% of their budgets servicing debt, starving investments in irrigation and mechanization. And let’s not forget illicit financial flows—$89 billion a year, or 3.7% of our GDP, siphoned off by multinationals through tax evasion. In the DRC, mining firms alone cost the country $1.5 billion in 2019. That’s money we could use to cut our 30% post-harvest losses.

Africa can feed itself: how to break free

So, how do we break free and feed ourselves? First, governments must invest in roads, storage, irrigation—basics that work. Senegal’s doing it; all can. Second, close the $240 billion financing gap. The African Development Bank’s $1.3 billion food production facility is a start, supporting 20 million farmers with seeds. Prof. Pascal K.T. Angui, Director General of Production and Food Security in Côte d’Ivoire’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Third, lean into fintech. Mobile money accounts exploded from 30 million in 2012 to 560 million in 2021, with 95% loan repayment rates. Fourth, stop the $89 billion in illicit financial flows. Tax evasion by multinationals has to end—imagine that money building storage to save our harvests. Fifth, supercharge intra-African trade through the AfCFTA and alliances that favour the African Agenda. South Africa’s Deputy Director for Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development, Peter Ramolotja

Only 5% of our cereal imports come from within Africa—let’s change that. And finally, Ditch the Climate Change Hoax! Africa can feed itself. We’ve got the land, the people, the potential. Our yield gap is 90%—we could nearly double output with the right tools. By 2030, we could turn a $280 billion market into $1 trillion. But it starts with us—demanding accountability, redirecting capital, and telling globalists: Africa’s table is set by Africans.

Written By Tatenda Belle Panashe

The Focus Areas include Credible Elections, economic Sovereignty, Indigenous Governance Models through developing an “Afro-Democracy” that aligns with African values and realities. Youth and Digital Innovation by Harnessing Africa’s youth potential in the digital space. Key Speakers include Prof. Patrice Lumumba, Former Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga, Former AU Ambassador to the United States Amb. Arikana Chihombori-Quao, Former Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan, Nigerian Vice President Kashim Shettima and Speaker Tajudeen Abbas just to name a few.

ICAD: Reclaiming Africa’s Sovereignty

The pursuit of Africa’s sovereignty is not merely a political aspiration but a radical reimagining of economic, cultural, and political systems to centre African agency, dignity, and self-determination. The legacy of colonialism and the ongoing neocolonial structures—manifested through exploitative trade systems, foreign aid dependency, and Western-dominated financial institutions—have entrenched Africa’s structural dependency, sapping the continent’s ability to chart its own destiny. Reclaiming sovereignty demands dismantling these systems through Afrocentric policies and actions that prioritize African solutions, rooted in the principles of Pan-Africanism, self-reliance, and resistance to globalist agendas that perpetuate Western dominance.

The Roots of Structural Dependency

The Scramble for Africa in the late 19th century, formalized at the 1884 Berlin Conference, carved the continent into artificial boundaries, prioritizing European economic interests over African social and political realities. This colonial framework reorganized African economies to serve as extractive hubs for raw materials, feeding Europe’s Industrial Revolution while dismantling indigenous systems of governance, trade, and cultural cohesion. Post-independence, the promise of liberation was undermined by neocolonial mechanisms—structural adjustment programs (SAPs) imposed by the IMF and World Bank, conditional aid, and trade agreements that locked African nations into exporting primary commodities while importing manufactured goods at unfavourable terms. These policies entrenched a dependency culture, where African economies remained tethered to Western markets and institutions. For instance, the reliance on cash crops and natural resources priced by the West, a colonial legacy, continues to limit economic diversification, leaving nations vulnerable to global price fluctuations. Foreign aid, often tied to political and economic reforms aligned with Western liberal ideologies, has further eroded sovereignty by imposing external governance models that clash with African communal values and realities. This dynamic has fostered a cycle of debt, poverty, and political instability, with 72% of the Democratic Republic of Congo’s population living on less than $1.90 a day in 2018, despite its vast mineral wealth. Zimbabwe-born public speaker Joshua Maponga explains where true power lies: The economy. Without control of it, it would be misguided to claim sovereignty.

Reclaiming Africa’s Sovereignty through Economic Diversification and Industrialization

Reclaiming Africa’s sovereignty requires a paradigm shift toward Reclaiming Africa’s sovereignty requires a paradigm shift toward Afrocentric policies that prioritize local agency, cultural identity, and economic self-sufficiency.  Afrocentricity, as a framework, positions Africans as agents of their own history, rejecting the Eurocentric lens that has long defined development. Key strategies include Economic Diversification and Industrialization: African nations must move beyond primary commodity exports by investing in value-added industries. The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), launched in 2018, offers a framework for intra-African trade, reducing reliance on external markets. By fostering regional supply chains and processing raw materials locally, Africa can retain wealth and create jobs.

Reclaiming Africa’s Sovereignty through Repossessing Financial Systems

Western-dominated institutions like the IMF and World Bank have imposed neoliberal policies that prioritize market liberalization over African priorities. Establishing African-led financial institutions, such as an expanded African Development Bank (AfDB), can provide funding free from external conditionalities. Additionally, leveraging local capital markets and mobilizing domestic savings can reduce dependence on foreign loans.

Reclaiming Africa’s Sovereignty through Decolonizing Governance

Afrocentric governance models should draw on pre-colonial communal systems, which emphasized collective responsibility and accountability. The Afrocentric school argues that traditional African leaders operated with a communal spirit, minimizing corruption—a stark contrast to the extractive colonial systems that persist in post-colonial governance. Policies must prioritize human-centered development, focusing on basic needs like food security, healthcare, and education, rather than Western-imposed liberal democratic frameworks.

Anti-Colonial and Anti-Globalist Finance

As an anti-globalist finance advocate, I reject the notion that Africa’s development must conform to Western capitalist models. Globalist finance, driven by institutions like the IMF, prioritizes profit over people, perpetuating a system where African resources enrich foreign corporations while local populations languish. For example, China’s growing influence—while less conditional than Western aid—often prioritizes Chinese interests, with $300 billion in trade in 2023 dwarfing U.S.-Africa trade. An anti-colonial financial strategy demands Sovereign Wealth Fund. African nations with resource wealth, like Nigeria or Angola, should establish sovereign wealth funds to reinvest resource revenues into infrastructure, education, and technology, rather than allowing profits to be siphoned offshore. Then rejecting Tied Aid. Conditional aid often serves as a neocolonial tool, dictating policy and undermining sovereignty. African governments must negotiate aid on their terms or reject it outright, prioritizing partnerships that respect territorial integrity. To counter the dominance of Western currencies like the dollar and euro, African nations could explore regional or strengthening their currencies to facilitate intra-African trade and reduce exposure to global financial volatility.

Written By Tatenda Belle Panashe