The Secretary General of the African Continental Free Trade Area, Wamkele Mene, has called on African trade ministers to reduce tariffs on staple foods to zero to combat the continent's food crisis.

"I made this proposal to the trade ministers: If we want to get out of this crisis, this food insecurity crisis, let's immediately reduce customs duties to zero. Zero tax, quota free trade. (...) Free trade of basic agricultural products, including cereals," Wamkele Mene told Lusa.

The decision is in the hands of the African Union's council of trade ministers, but Mene argues that this is "a very important step that should be taken to improve food security in Africa."

In a press conference on the sidelines of the first Afro-Caribbean trade and investment forum, Mene recalled that the African continent is a net importer of food and had been before the war in Ukraine.

"What [the war] has shown is that once again we have to accelerate the self-reliance of the African continent," said the secretary general of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

To combat Africa's dependence on grain imports, particularly Russian and Ukrainian, Mene argued that there are a number of measures to be taken, starting with reducing tariffs for trade in agricultural products on the continent.

A second step is to study the grain export capacity of African countries to other states on the continent.

"For example, Zimbabwe has over $200 million (roughly the same in euros) of excess capacity in cereals that could be exported to the rest of the continent (...). I see no reason why, in four or five years, Zimbabwe cannot be a net exporter of cereals on the continent," he said, referring also to other countries such as Malawi, Zambia, Uganda or Ethiopia.

Stressing these countries have export capacity Mene stressed that it is necessary to ensure that there is investment in technology and the necessary facilities to store and export the grain and that the rules that are being designed for the trade of agricultural products within Africa are supported by these interventions.

The invasion of Ukraine by Russia, two of the world's largest grain exporters, has contributed to worsening food shortages in the world's poorest regions, some of which, like the Horn of Africa, are already experiencing severe hunger and malnutrition.

Despite efforts to resume deliveries of Ukrainian grain via the Black Sea, there has been a 46% drop in exports of these goods since the beginning of the year, according to the International Red Cross.