Written by Umamah Bakharia 

The European Union (EU) says it’s building solidarity lanes to help export Ukraine’s agricultural goods to Africa and elsewhere. 

This is according to the president of the European Union (EU) Commission Ursula Gertrud von der Leyen. She says that time was not on their side while the framework is in place. 

Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, and Lithuania have been earmarked as escape routes for the transportation of grain out of Ukraine.

In a discussion with Radio Islam, the chairperson of the Africa Diaspora Forum (ADF), Dr Vusimuzi Sibanda says Ukraine might be able to transport grain out of the country into Europe since the war is currently in only one part of the country. 

“We need to look at who is in solidarity with who and who is to benefit from this,” says Dr Sibanda.

He adds that it is unsure what the objective of the EU supplying grain to Africa as many African countries have the capacity to produce their own grain.

“If it was an issue of solidarity, it would be an issue of saying how do we develop systems in Africa for it to produce for itself rather than to be dependant on importing from Ukraine,” says Dr Sibanda.

He reiterates that this deal might just be for-profit and not an actual solidarity lane to assist African countries.