The European Union needs to expand its influence in the African republics in the area of food, German Food and Agriculture Minister Cem Ozdemir of the Greens party said Saturday.

"We must not leave the field to the authoritarian states that are active there and try to create new dependencies through their investments," he said in his opening remarks at an international conference of agriculture ministers in Berlin, his speech broadcast live on the website of the ministry he heads.

Ozdemir said the federal government has now agreed with the African Union on a partnership for the future to make food systems more resilient to crises.