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Staple Foods
The Staple Foods value chain has enormous potential to empower and economically liberate the majority of the population in the ECA region. Staple foods include maize, beans, pulses and coarse grains. A majority of the population is involved in agricultural production, particularly production of staple food items such as maize, beans, pulses and coarse grains. People depend on agriculture for food security, income and sustenance.
The Staple Foods value chain is large with scope for broad economies of scale in the provision of agricultural inputs and machinery; appropriate technology; production; storage and warehousing; distribution; infrastructure (rural roads, information and communications technology-ICT); transport; market information systems; markets; finance; and skills development.
The biggest challenge to the Staple Foods value chain is to have a chain that is linked and fully integrated at the national and regional levels, anchored on free market principles and is responsive to all players along the value chain including smallholder farmers and the ultra poor.
The full potential of the Staple Foods sector is hampered by the high cost of doing business in the region driven largely by high transportation and other costs along major transit/trade corridors handling the region’s imports and exports.
The key to unlocking the potential of the Staple Foods sector is to devise and implement strategies to reduce transport and transit logistics costs to enhance competitiveness. The transport and logistics systems must also be responsive to emergency situations such as natural disasters, floods, droughts and be able to deliver food relief and other provisions to vulnerable populations.
