Supermarkets Out of Africa! Food Systems Across the Continent Are Doing Just Fine Without Them

Africa’s food systems are a final frontier for multinational food companies and retailers. Most Africans still consume a healthy diet of traditional foods, supplied by millions of small vendors and small farmers across the continent. But this is slowly changing as global food companies and retailers adopt new strategies to expand their presence on the continent, led by the aggressive actions of some multinational supermarket chains. The livelihoods of millions of small vendors and local farmers are at risk, as are people’s health and the continent’s diverse traditional food cultures. While African governments do little but facilitate this expansion of foreign supermarkets, small vendors, farmers and urban consumers are coming together to defend their local food systems.

It is July 2018 and the small vendors of the bustling Gueule-Tapée market in Dakar, Senegal are outraged. They have just heard that the local mayor plans to demolish their market and build a four story shopping mall in its place.