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Fortification
African Food Companies can take the lead in
fortifying staple foods
Although Sub-Saharan Africa is still a net importer of food, the
bulk of its staple food is processed locally. Virtually 100% of maize meal, 90%
of wheat flour, 96% of refined sugar, 90% of salt (but only 37% in West Africa)
and 66% of palm oil are processed on the continent.
Substantial interregional trade makes up for local shortfalls. For
example, South African and Tanzanian maize flour processors supply Malawi,
Mozambique and Zambia. South Africa and the DRC account for over 90% of
sunflower oil production in Southern Africa, and this production supplies the
region. In West Africa, salt produced in Senegal is the primary source for
Benin, Burkina Faso, Cote D’Ivoire, Mali and Niger.
A small group of food companies, mostly African, have an extensive
footprint on the continent. Examples of trans-national firms with an impressive
regional reach include a Namibian milling concern, Namib Mills, with operations
in Botswana, Swaziland (where the company is the only miller) and Mozambique; a
Kenyan edible oil processor, Bidco, with operations in Tanzania and Uganda and
export activities to Malawi, Madagascar, the DRC and Sudan; a Cameroonian palm
oil producer, SocaPalm, that serves the regional market; and a South African
sugar company, Illovo, which controls a large portion of the Southern African
sugar industry.
These examples show that the reach of individual companies and
their products is wide. When companies such as these do fortify the basic
foodstuffs they process, this significantly increases access to fortified
staple food across the continent.
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