THE European Union does not hesitate to ban pesticides it regards as hazardous from use on the lands of its member states but this, of course, does not mean that these substances just disappear overnight.

What happens instead is that the EU dumps these poisonous substances on the African continent.

Clearly black lives not only don’t matter to the EU capitalist club but they are entirely disposable.

Not only is this poisoning Africans the length and breadth of the vast continent but it is adding to environmental injustice by degrading Africa’s rich biodiversity, pollinator populations and the possibility of building any kind of ecological resilience to enable Africans to tackle the mounting climate emergency.

I hear all the time in Britain about the dangers that will come if bees die off. The reality here is that bees are dying off in massive numbers across, for example, east Africa.

Millions of pollinators in countries such as Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda are being wiped out because of the chemicals that the EU has dumped on Africa in the name of humanitarian assistance or development.

In many parts of Rwanda more than 60 per cent of bee colonies have been lost forever, leading to a 40 per cent drop in honey production between 2021 and 2023.

The fact of the matter is that having banned the use of these African bound pesticides many of the crops grown in Africa are being exported back to Europe.

So it’s OK for Africans to work in these toxic conditions to produce the food that the EU wants in its supermarkets and for kids to play on the lands contaminated by the pesticides. But this is not a risk worth taking for Europeans.

Of course, the scenario I have just outlined creates a health risk for Europeans who are eating products often too expensive for Africans to eat.

One pesticide, called Rocket — used by 72 per cent of farmers —contains profenofos, a highly toxic substance for bees and banned in the EU.

Another widely used chemical, malathion, banned in the EU since 2007 due to its links to cancer and pollinator decline, is still imported from France, Denmark and Germany.

Crops such as coffee, many fruits, beans and sunflowers, which are heavily dependent on the existence of pollinators, are at risk. Yes! Your morning coffee lifeline is under threat not just from Trump’s ridiculous trade tariff wars but also from poisoning.

The statistics are pretty stark for the level of racism that we can actually measure. In one year, 2022, EU countries exported over 81,000 tonnes of 41 pesticide products banned within the EU, according to the European Chemicals Agency.

But what are the health risks that are being passed on to Africans?

One pesticide widely exported from the EU to Africa, called malathion, is labelled by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as “possibly carcinogenic.”

Another, profenofos, mentioned above, is linked to neurotoxicity and hormone disruption.

It is also worth remembering that many farmers do not have the luxury of being able to purchase and use protective clothing to at least offer some form of protection or indeed proper training to at least mitigate dangers.

I am sure that the companies responsible for these sorts of European banned pesticides that end up in Africa — I will not name them here — will claim that they are breaking no laws. The disgraceful truth is that this is probably right.

But this does not save an African life or the continent’s biodiversity and, in the longer term, the ability of Africa to become self-sufficient in the production of its food.

Food is power and it really is time to exercise its sovereignty. The sovereignty of the continent does not just rely on the ability to wave a decorated piece of cloth. A major part of it is the ability to safely feed oneself.

I do not simply blame the Europeans for this. I also place a major section of the blame on the (mis)leaders across the continent who are allowing these poisonous pesticides to enter their countries.

I have no doubt that there are massive kickbacks being given to these (mis)leaders to allow these pesticides to poison their lands and their people.

If Africa is ever to be free from 500 years of humiliation by the enslavers and colonialists it needs to secure its food sovereignty.

The most obvious thing is to ban the imports of EU-banned pesticides like profenofos and malathion.

There must also be a public awareness programme for farmers — across the continent mostly small holders — about the risk of pesticides.

Farmers can’t just be expected to stop using pesticides — something that many have grown to rely on to grow their crops — they need alternatives. So they need subsidised organic biopesticides and safe pest management.

There is the possibility that if these pesticides are banned then this might lead to a black market trade in the hazardous substances. Local authorities will need modern surveillance tools and the black market needs to be heavily clamped down on.

Urgent steps will need to be taken to revive the pollinators. A co-ordinated plan across the continent will need to be put in place such as pollinator sanctuaries.

But, most of all, Africans need to break the mindset of dependence on the racist former colonial regimes that are still ripping them off and, in reality, killing them.

This is at the heart of what is known as food sovereignty — the right of Africans to have control over the food they produce, sell and eat.

Control over food production is obviously complicated — to say the least — by the climate emergency in the global South which has largely been caused by the greed of the capitalist nations of the North.

We are all ultimately dependent on each other but progress must begin with Africans not being directly beholden to the former colonial powers and their new(ish) leader the US.

But the policy changes that are necessary need to replace a narrative of an industrial food system that is largely for the benefit of the North with a change towards a more people-centred system in Africa.

I can’t see how an industrial agricultural system benefits Africa. The insecticides dumped on Africa and the extensive soil damage it has caused, plus the negative impacts on health and nutrition and the devastation caused on the continent’s resources, offer no real future for Africa.

The African continent requires a complete transformation of its food systems.

A  more people-centred system of sustainable agriculture, combining indigenous knowledge with cutting-edge science, making the best use of nature to create healthy communities and beating back a system based on mega-profits for transnational corporations over the needs of local communities.

The dumping of insecticides by the EU must cease immediately and Africans, wherever they are on the continent, must seize control of how food is produced rather than this being dictated by monopoly capital.