Phosphate Diplomacy: Forget Ukraine, Africa has a solution to global food security

Unavailability of fertiliser results in low production. [File, Standard]

Recent phosphate diplomacy has given a sharper indication of the central role of food security in securing global peace and stability.

With China cutting back on exports to satisfy its local market and with Russia and Belarus subjected to international sanctions while Ukraine is under siege, the spectra of food crisis has activated phosphate diplomacy in Africa and in particular Morocco.

In May 2022, the Brazilian Minister of Agriculture visited Rabat to secure an agreement on the supply and construction of a phosphate processing plant in Brazil. In the same month, Japanese Deputy Agriculture Minister Tekebe Arata flew to Morocco to secure more phosphates.

Morocco the phosphate powerhouse

In August 2022 Morocco released to Rwanda 15,000 tons of fertilizer at a reduced price with a promise to open a factory there by 2023. In September 2022 Kenya became a beneficiary of reduced prices of fertilizer amounting to 1.4 million bags.

From the aforementioned, Africa has the capacity to feed itself and the world in general.

The Morocco-Western Sahara dispute and the 1991 UN treaty between the Polisario Front and the Moroccan government facilitated MINURSO peacekeepers and the 1984 AU recognition of Western Sahara statehood. This saw Morocco withdraw from OAU only to AU on January 31, 2017. This is a matter that should be pursued diplomatically to avoid geopolitical tensions while resolving the human rights issues raised therein.

- Dr Paul Kibiwott Kurgat is a Tact and Strategy expert in Foreign Policy and Diplomacy