Deputy Managing Director of the French group Advens-Geocoton, leader in the cotton sector (production and marketing of cotton fibers and oilseed products, logistics, supply, transport, storage) in Africa where he is present in 15 countries and in relation with 25 million agricultural producers for a consolidated turnover in 2019 of 320 million euros, Karim Aït Talb is also president of the association Alfa (Agriculture Lifestock Fisheries for Africa) created in October 2021 to connect French expertise in agriculture and breeding with Africa. Objective: to support the agricultural transition of the continent where more than 60% of the population lives in rural areas and where a third of the calories are imported. The idea is, around an agile public/private agro ecosystem, to enable this challenge to be met with actors from the north and the south and thus to position agro as a major axis of the new Africa-France partnership in the wake of the FARM initiative and President Macron’s recent trips to the continent (Cameroon, July 2022; Angola, March 2023). With the experience given to him by Advens-Geocoton chaired by the Franco-Senegalese Abbas Jaber and organized into five independent and complementary sectors (agro-industry, energy, engineering and supplies, logistics and services, trading and Milling), Karim Aït Talb also symbolizes what second-generation immigrants can bring to the necessary bridge between Africa and Europe through equitable solutions that can act as a buffer against the consequences of food insecurity and climate change. He confided in Point Afrique.
Le Point Afrique: Why today when we turn to Africa, we must necessarily think about the issue of agriculture?
Karim Aït Talb: Agriculture is absolutely central to human history. It turns out that by 2050, the African continent will have some 2.5 billion inhabitants. As such, the question arises of how to feed them, how to prevent Africa from importing and each time from being a collateral victim of geopolitical conflicts. It seems to me that it is by focusing on its natural capital, its human capital, and by highlighting what Africa holds most dear, that is to say its land, its water, its sun and its populations, that it will be able to achieve this.
It is said that Africa is the most buoyant continent in terms of arable land. How, concretely, is it possible, from a country like France, to get in touch with this universe and build something?
The African continent is not well known because it is perceived as a continent with arid zones and other disadvantages. In reality, it is a vast continent whose cartographic representations do not show the true dimensions. Just look at the distance between Dakar and the Horn of Africa, it’s as much as between Moscow and Vladivostok. However, when you look closely, it seems to be shorter. In reality, Africa is made up of a multitude of agro-ecological zones and varieties. You can do absolutely anything there. Fruit, vegetables, market gardening, cereals. There is no place where we have difficulty producing, apart from certain specific areas of the Sahel. What happens is that in the collective unconscious, we consider that the African continent is not an agricultural continent. The explanation: for years, Europe exported its surplus cereals, milk, sugar and oil there. I think that thanks to this new partnership between Africa and France, a partnership desired by President Macron and by several African leaders, we must focus on the essentials.
In France, there is an important agricultural history, an agricultural expertise that should be shared with Africa so as to bring out together these two areas which have a common history, a common destiny. Today in France, there is a very good knowledge of the matter concerning seeds. This must be able to be shared with the African continent in the same way as animal production, an area in which France has fine breeds capable of producing six, ten times more milk than what African breeds do today. There is necessarily a work of bringing into conformity and improving African farming practices, but this is within the reach of French companies, especially if they are accompanied and heard by the political powers.
You recently went to Angola. What lessons have you learned from your contact with this country?
Angola is a country that is very little known in France and in the French-speaking areas and yet, in terms of agricultural potential, it ranks fifth in the world. This means that it is possible to do a lot of things there and to exploit a wide variety of animal and vegetable cultures.
On the occasion of President Macron’s visit, there was the will, both on the French side and on the Angolan side, that the agricultural private sector sign a partnership allowing to freeze sectors on which to collaborate and work, sectors to be developed together. not only for Angola, but also for the whole sub-region. Let’s remember: Angola has the potential to be the breadbasket of the continent.
This French expertise, brought to a country which has unfortunately been in civil war for many years and has therefore certainly lost in terms of farming practices, will allow it to be a real economic power in the region.
Given its dynamic population growth, Africa needs to solve its food sovereignty equation as the African Free Trade Area comes to fruition. How to combine this reality with a partnership with both France and Europe?
The question of the food sovereignty of the African continent has been raised for a long time. And each geopolitical or climatic or other crisis will lead to food insecurity being talked about again. This means that a lasting solution must be found for it. To do this, we will have to settle the question of market access. Since the free trade zones are accelerators of the movement of people but also of farming practices, it is absolutely necessary to improve productivity in each of the countries concerned.
There is, however, one key issue to be resolved: that of funding. For what ?
Because today, when you are an African farmer, without land title or collateral, you do not have access to finance. Result: Subsistence farming persists.
Conversely, when you are a slightly more structured company and want to develop in this sector, you realize that access to money is extremely expensive, around 18 or even 20%. When you are a French company, you want to invest five million euros on the African continent in the agricultural sector, you do not necessarily find the funds because you are often below the intervention threshold of Proparco or BPI (Public Investment Bank). This means that it is imperative that solutions be provided in terms of the supply of financing to small growers, SMEs, large companies, whether local, regional or international.
Advens-Géocoton, of which you are the Deputy Managing Director, is present in Europe and Africa. How do you go about finding a balance?
We have an economic model that is extremely specific. Established in Africa since 1949, we have had time to see the area evolve. In all the countries where we are established, we leave an important place to our producer partners who are stakeholders in the capital of our subsidiaries. In other words, we are a French company, but with mixed capital. In the countries where we are, we are never 100%. We still have local partners. Alongside this, we have another approach: 100% of our sourcing is done exclusively with small growers. We have no hectare in development.
I think the model as we have it can be applied to many cultures.
What is needed for French companies is to succeed in overcoming the interest of the African continent. In fact, I call on all entrepreneurs to ask themselves the following question: why are Russian, Chinese, Turkish operators interested in the African continent? Why are we, when we have a common language, not interested in it?
What you need to know is that once the first apprehensions are overcome, you can see that opportunities exist, that companies of all sizes are succeeding. That said, we really have to think about solutions in terms of financing because, it must be recognized, an investment in Africa is always a risky investment.
There is a structure called OCP Africa which specializes in the production of fertilizers. It is in contact with agricultural companies and many farmers on the continent. What is the complementarity that exists between a structure from the south like OCP Africa and your structure or others from the north to enrich this universe?
Agriculture is a value chain. In reality, it is necessary to be accompanied on all the links of this chain, whether you are a company from the north or one from the south, so that the sector chosen in the end is sustainable. Otherwise, developing African agriculture without having a detailed knowledge of soil mapping or even having support for fertilizers is totally illusory. This shows the importance of an actor like the OCP specialized in these two fields.
Furthermore, in general, I would like to remind you that we must first work on the question of seeds. For what ? Let us refer to the agricultural history of France. The increase in agricultural productivity first intervened there thanks to work on seeds before arriving at the question of fertilizers. In other words, for Africa, it is imperative to work with actors like OCP, but also to work with seed companies so that the fertilizers offered by OCP and the seeds offered by French companies can succeed together. to improve productivity.
So what about African organic production for both Southern and Northern markets?
On this point, we must face the facts. There is indeed a world market that is now increasingly interested in these organic products. That said, when we look at the case of France, it is clear that many organic stores are closing. In Africa, we can say that the farmers are among the most organic in the world. Because they have very little access to fertilizers and hardly any phytosanitary products. Their products are therefore organic without having the certification. Once this has been established, if they have a product that is certified organic, everything produced in the field must also be certified organic. Thus, when someone makes cotton in Africa, he makes cotton and at the same time cereals on the side. He will find takers for organic cotton, but what about organic sorghum and millet. Will he be able to sell them locally to someone who will buy more expensive organic millet and sorghum? No, I don’t believe so.
We must, of course, aim for farming practices that respect the environment, but we must also support the increase in production of our African partners so that their incomes improve and that they gradually enter into a transition that will allow them to be competitive tomorrow in the international market for organic and other products. Once again, organic producers are on all continents and the question is whether an African farmer, with all the obstacles he has to overcome, from financing to infrastructure and other constraints, will be able to be competitive. Therefore, it is best today to do everything possible to help it improve its local production, to enable it to reach a critical size capable of improving itself and its environment in terms of production and income. And once it has a solid enough base, move on to something more in tune with the market.
How to set up efficient agricultural production structures both locally and for export and internationally?
From my point of view, it is imperative to structure the sectors. Today, the particularity of the African agricultural world is that it is split into tens of millions of small family farms that are not coordinated. As long as we have not worked on the structuring of sectors, we will always be on a non-competitive subsistence family agriculture. We need representative interlocutors with whom the States but also the international partners will be able to discuss, set up financing solutions adapted to the realities on the ground and thus offer the best support. Once this is in place, the parameters will be open enough to build competitive and sustainable sectors, as road infrastructure, education, training, health, energy, etc. will have been incorporated into the process.
What would it take today to build a bridge between the French and European agricultural and agro-industrial world and that of Africa?
Through President Macron’s trips to Cameroon and then to Angola, we have clearly seen that the subject of agriculture and livestock farming has returned to the center of diplomatic discourse. This is important, even essential. Now, it is necessary to demonstrate to French companies that there are real opportunities on the African continent which, once again, is not easy to grasp given what is emerging from the news which means that Africa does not necessarily seem like the continent where you absolutely want to invest when you are a cooperative. There is, so to speak, a pedagogical work to be done. This is what we have striven to do with associations such as Alfa (Agriculture Lifestock Fisheries for Africa) which today bring together some 150 complementary French companies around the theme of Agriculture and Livestock. It made it possible to realize that there is a growing interest on the part of companies which did not see Africa as a favorable agricultural ground.
Alfa’s role is to show that there are companies of all sizes that make it happen, succeed in investing in Africa and are winning in their strategy. We are working little by little to bring other companies, other cooperatives to look at this continent in a different way. Once we have succeeded in making farmers and businesses understand that Africa is a source, an incredible lever of growth through its youth, its agro-ecological potential, its proximity and its market too, we can think about implementing around opportunities. At that point, business will talk and that will change everything, because when the private sector talks, it’s much more pragmatic. Indeed, until now, I think that what has somewhat served the African continent in this France or Europe-Africa relationship is that it was often the politicians who spoke.
