AFRICAN agriculture and food systems
AFRICAN agriculture and food systems have largely been characterised by too much emphasis on production at the expense of other value chain nodes such as food preservation, value addition and food safety.
Very few countries have competent institutions responsible for preventing chemicals that are used at production stage from ending in the consumer plate.
The notion of Post Harvest Intervals (PHIs) in relation to chemical usage on raw commodities is not tracked all the way to the market.
In the absence of an institution responsible for tracking chemical residue in tomatoes, leafy vegetables, apples, oranges, avocadoes, banana, sugar cane and other raw commodities that flow into mass markets, food safety has become a silent crisis.
When farmers hear that tomato prices have gone up, how many of them adhere to PHI and who ensures that adherence happens?
Importance of monitoring food safety
Because of the absence of culture of monitoring food safety, consumers are exposed to unsafe food, leading to a lot of food-borne diseases and cancers.
Assuming pesticide residue is discovered to be highly unacceptable at the point of marketing, who will compensate transport costs for farmers whose commodities will be rejected at the market due to high pesticide residue?
What will happen to the commodities that are found with too much pesticide residue?
The fact that most of these questions have no answers reveals knowledge gaps that should be closed by monitoring food along entire value chains from production to market.
Governments cannot afford sitting on the fence about this silent crisis.
It is not enough to collect few samples and assume that the whole food consignment is safe because there is often no guarantee that products that get into the market exactly match the sample.
This is because food gets into the market in many ways which, if not monitored, expose consumers to several hazards and impurities.
Failure to track food safety is one of the most dangerous public health blind spots in several African countries.
The only time food safety receives policy attention is when there is an outbreak of cholera that is covered by the mainstream media.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), globally, foodborne illnesses kill 420 000 people every year with African countries accounting for a huge share of that figure.
Some of the statistics African policy-makers always strive to keep unknown to the public include number of people suffering from foodborne diseases annually; lives lost due to unsafe food annually; admissions at local clinics and national hospitals due to unsafe food; and, the economic impact of healthcare costs.
Who is responsible for ensuring food safety?
Unlike regulatory regimes in the Global North and Asia where post-market surveillance is routine and enforced, African countries like Zimbabwe do not conduct consistent testing of food already on shelves or in the mass market.
Consumers buy and eat whatever is found in the market.
Responsibility is fragmented in terms of which government department is supposed to play which role within food supply chains.
The Agriculture ministry’s responsibility ends at the production stage, with no clarity on which department is supposed to take over when food starts moving to diverse markets that are often under the jurisdiction of local authorities like municipalities.
In most cases, the Local Government ministry and municipalities do not have departments responsible for handling food commodities.
The Health ministry gets involved when patients show up in clinics and hospitals suffering from various ailments whose source could be unsafe food.
The Transport ministry is only about roads in general.
The Standards Association of Zimbabwe (Saz) is mostly interested in compliance with commercial or industrial standards, not what is happening in mass markets.
All these gaps and siloed approaches create room for government departments to pass the blame when things go wrong — leaving consumers dangerously unprotected.
Standard bodies like Saz and consumer watchdogs like the Consumer Council of Zimbabwe suffer from chronic understaffing and funding constraints, with most enforcement resources concentrated in big cities only.
Where they exist, testing labs remain under-equipped. Food-safety infrastructure is virtually non-existent at the local government level where nobody is monitoring numerous cases of food adulteration and contamination including expired fruit juices, counterfeit tomato paste, harmful pesticides and unregulated imported food dyes.
The cost of neglecting food safety
Despite the visible risks, regulatory field checks are rare and most inspections focus on street vendors’ permits — not what’s actually being served.
The cost of regulatory apathy is not just public health — it’s public trust.
With most African countries striving to industrialise and expand exports, a reputation for weak food safety oversight threatens the credibility of both domestic and international trade.
The majority of consumers are facing rising costs, unclear labels and little reassurance about the origin or safety of what they are eating.
That means food safety becomes a national security issue.
Without honest feedback from the market and consumers, governments repeat blind spots with confidence.
Why continue to waste resources producing unsafe food that will not be consumed?
- Charles Dhewa is a proactive knowledge broker and management specialist.