Patrick Achi, president of the National Assembly of Côte d’Ivoire and former prime minister, has said Africa’s annual food import bill of more than $100 billion exposes the continent’s weak productive capacity and overreliance on raw material exports.
Achi said Africa’s failure to translate its vast agricultural resources, natural wealth and youthful population into productive businesses, jobs and value-added industries was undermining its economic growth.
He spoke on Tuesday at the opening of the 2026 Gender and Inclusion Summit (GS-26), organised by the Policy Innovation Centre (PIC) in Abuja. The summit, which ends on Wednesday, is themed “From Agenda to Action: Making Innovations Count for the Last Mile.”
According to Achi, Africa accounts for about 18 percent of the world’s population but contributes only about three percent of global GDP and trade, and about two percent of global manufacturing value added and exports.
Africa’s population is projected to reach about 2.5 billion by 2050, meaning the continent could account for about one-quarter of the world’s population.
