While adapting to the rapidly geopolitical changes, Africa has to review its relations with external partners over food security from diverse perspectives. In the economic context, Africa can demonstrate concern by analyzing the distinctive challenges its agricultural sector faces, redesign agricultural production models based on the available resources. In the short term, advocating for food security and debating aspects of adopting import substitution sound as perfect economic measures for Africa. Ensuring economic sovereignty has always been the primary goal since attaining political independence. But, at quick glance, most of these African countries have remained heavily dependent on imports, even a common agricultural item that can be produced locally, and ultimately to cut down budget.

The
case in point here is the Republic of Benin. With an estimated population of
14.8 million people, the Republic of Benin situation on the Gulf of Guinea
along West Africa, sharing borders with Togo and Nigeria, has an arable land.
Its demography shows approximately 45% of the population live urban areas, but
the remaining 55% in the rural regions of the country where agriculture is the
dominate occupation. A relatively young people, with a medium age of 18 years,
and even up to 25 years are very vibrant to undertake modern farming with
support from the government.

With
sizeable mechanized farming, Benin can produce, at least, to satisfy food
requirements and ensure its food security. But it simply cannot due to policy
failures. Experts describe Benin as a food-deficit country. Benin has had
precarious food and nutrition situation for several years, despite having a
stable democracy in the region and in Africa.

Research
by this author indicates that Benin heavily imports food because its domestic
production, mostly subsistence farming, isn’t enough to feed its population,
relying significantly on staples like rice, poultry, fish, and wheat from
countries like Russia, India, Thailand, and Vietnam.

* Rice:
The single largest food import.

* Poultry:
Frozen poultry meat is a major import.

* Fish:
Frozen fish is also a significant import.

* Wheat
& Flour: Essential for bread and other baked goods

* Palm
Oil & Sugar: other important food items imported.

Benin’s
Main Food Suppliers:

*India,
Thailand, China, Russia, UAE and Brazil, and Togo are the key suppliers.

Basic
research shows that during the year of 2024, Benin imports from India worth
$658 million, imports from China worth over $500 million, and these include
goods such as rice, meat and poultry, alcoholic beverages, palm oil, and other
food and agricultural products.

Notwithstanding
the long distance involving logistics and haulage, Benin’s imports from Brazil
was $37.79 million during 2023, according to the United Nations database on
international trade.

Benin
and the World Bank:

African
and international financial institutions have tried to support Benin to attain
food security in the past. For instance, the World Bank launched the
Agricultural Productivity Diversification Project (PADA) with the Ministry and
Agricultural departments in Benin, with the main objective of supporting
farmers to develop a more diverse agricultural sector. In this process,
essential farm inputs, such as seeds and fertilizers provided to replant their
fields, as well as vaccines, and fish feed to revive both livestock and
aquaculture.

These
resources ensured that farming families had everything necessary to quickly get
back on their feet and resume food production and restore their incomes. With
improved practices and modern tools, farmers saw significant increases in crop
yields. Harvests of major crops—such as maize, rice and other food
products—doubled, providing communities not only with more food but also
surplus to sell for cash. The PADA project positively impacted both livestock
and aquaculture sectors The project facilitated the development of small-scale
processing and storage facilities with increased efficiency.

The
PADA has laid down the foundation for new initiatives, to enhance the
competitiveness of Benin’s agricultural sector, diversify crop production, and
increase both local processing and exports. Ultimately, it generated employment
opportunities, improve food security, and strengthen Benin’s food system.
Despite these, Benin still face challenges, and unable to turn the challenges
into a more sustainable opportunities in the sector.

Why
Imports Are Still Necessary:

* Subsistence
Farming: Most local food production is for immediate family consumption,
with little surplus for the market.

* Growing
Demand: Consumer demand for protein and processed foods outpaces local
supply.

*Regional
Trade Hub: Benin’s port efficiently processes agricultural cargo, much of
which is destined for larger markets like Nigeria, highlighting its role in
regional food supply chains.

Africa,
Benin’s Food Sovereignty with Russia

Foreign
Minister Sergey Lavrov held talks with Minister of Foreign Affairs of the
Republic of Benin, Olushegun Adjadi Bakari, on the sidelines of the First
Ministerial Conference of the Russia-Africa Partnership Forum in Sochi. That
was on November 9, 2024. Both ministers discussed ways to strengthen
Russia-Benin cooperation in politics, trade, the economy, culture, and other
areas, and to improve the legal and contractual framework of bilateral
relations.

Later,
in Cairo, Egypt, Lavrov appreciated the fact that the Benin Foreign Minister
attended with a delegation, and both had a great opportunity to discuss the
state of bilateral affairs.

Earlier
in late November 2025, Russia’s Ambassador to Benin and Togo, Igor Evdokimov,
and Benin’s Secretary-General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Deputy
Minister, Franck Armel Afoukou, held fresh discussions on participation in the
second ministerial conference of the Russia–Africa Partnership Forum in Cairo.
During that discussion, Russian Ambassador, Igor Evdokimov, reiterated
strengthening trade and economic cooperation between the two countries. At the
meeting, beneficial partnership in investment and, joint exploration and
development of natural resources were re-underlined.

Russian
poultry exports to African countries in January-August 2025 increased 2.2-fold
in physical terms compared to the same period in 2024, and that trend tripled
in monetary terms, reaching over $27 million, the Federal Center Agroexport,
Russian Ministry of Agriculture, told TASS—the local Russian media. In the
reporting period, Russia also exported chicken meat to Africa – frozen chicken
and frozen turkey.

According
to Agroexport, the top five African countries importing poultry meat from
Russia by value are Benin, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ghana, Gabon,
and Guinea. During this period, Russian poultry exports to Ghana increased by
6.5 times in monetary terms, to Benin by 6 times, and to the Democratic
Republic of Congo by 1.5 times.

In
2025, Russia also exported poultry to the Central African Republic for the
first time and resumed deliveries to Togo after a hiatus since 2023, according
to Agroexport. Since Jan. 2026, Russia has launched wheat exports to Togo and
Benin in West Africa. Egypt, Algeria and Kenya are also among the top buyers.

Where
lies the food sovereignty then? Many African countries, including Benin, have
emerged as a key importing-partners in this import deals from private Russian
exporting companies, endorsed by the Russian Ministry of Agriculture. The
current bilateral relationships and economic cooperation allows the Federal
Center Agroexport, Russian Ministry of Agriculture, to create the ‘golden
opportunity’ to increasingly earn revenue from Africa’s lack of using their own
resources to produce food for local consumption.

At
its core, many political elites and corporate entrepreneurs remain largely
cautious over the state’s decision to depend on imports. The traditional
mathematics is always simple: write the checks and have a varying part of the
share. That’s the implication of write the cheques, shouting and reiterating
food self-dependency in official well-colored speeches is just mere political
rhetoric.

As
it is the case from the time of gaining political independence, Africa will
never attain food sustainability and ensure food sovereignty, if long-term
interests are based on what Russia always offers during bilateral talks. Offers
have to be cautiously examined, discussed and negotiated. Multipolar rhetorics
and historical Soviet-era solidarities should not be the basis to turn Africa
into import-dependency partners.

The
Way Forward into Future

As
Russia heads for the third Summit, African leaders have serious review Russia’s
earlier food security pledges, which are contained in official declarations in
Sochi (October 2019) and St. Petersburg (July 2023). Economic policy experts
have suggested Africa increasingly adopts import substitution policies and
intensifies domestic production. It has adequate resources, at least, to engage
in improving its local production, modernizing agriculture while extending
financial support for local farmers. Public-private partnerships, as one key
aspect, aim at employment creation and support for food security is absolutely
necessary.

The
path forward lies in rethinking the Russia–Africa agricultural dynamic—shifting
from dependency toward resilient, locally driven food systems. Building
internal agricultural capacity is the surest path to resilience and food
sovereignty. The path to sovereignty is not paved with huge imports, but rather
with bold investment in homegrown solutions. It is important to mechanize food
production, create employment and be self-sufficient in this sphere.

In
this changing era, food security is no longer merely a development issue—it is
a cornerstone of national security, economic independence, and global standing.
For Africa, the time to act is now.

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