Faith Nyasuguta
Africa is projected to surpass Asia as the continent with the highest number of people experiencing hunger by 2030, according to a new UN report. The annual state of food security and nutrition report, released by five UN agencies, highlighted a “clear trend” of increasing undernourishment across Africa.
Currently, Africa has the largest proportion of people lacking sufficient nutritious food, at 20.4%. However, Asia still houses more than half of the world’s hungry population. In 2023, 384.5 million people in Asia faced hunger, compared to 298.4 million in Africa.
Alvaro Lario, president of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), described the situation as “alarming,” warning that it is likely to worsen without urgent action. “In a decade, due to population growth and current dynamics, the problem will be harder to solve, with a significantly higher number of people in Africa suffering from chronic hunger,” Lario said.
Lario noted that Asia has made strides through a greater focus on local production, crop diversification, fertilizer use, and public investment, areas where Africa lags. The report projects that if current trends persist, nearly 600 million people will be chronically undernourished by 2030, with 53% of them in Africa.
This figure would mirror levels seen in 2015, indicating a troubling stagnation in progress.
Elizabeth Nsimalda, president of the Eastern Africa Farmers Federation (EAFF), representing 25 million food producers, expressed concern over the situation. “We are losing the battle against hunger, especially in rural communities where many of the people who produce the food we eat are unable to feed themselves and their families,” she said.
Africa has an estimated 33 million smallholder farms, responsible for up to 70% of the continent’s food supply. The climate crisis has severely impacted these farmers and overall food security, noted Diana Onyango, head of Farm Africa’s technical team.
In East Africa, prolonged droughts since 2020 have exacerbated the situation. Onyango emphasized that farmers often lack the knowledge and resources to diversify their crops and livestock, making them more vulnerable to climate change.
Conflict also plays a significant role in food insecurity. In parts of Ethiopia, for example, ongoing conflicts prevent farmers from accessing their land, forcing many to flee their homes, according to Onyango.
Olivier De Schutter, UN special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights and co-chair of the International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems, warned that the current global industrial food system is “disastrously vulnerable” to climate, conflict, and economic shocks.
“Building climate-resilient food systems is now a life-or-death matter,” De Schutter stated. “We also need to establish social protection floors and ensure workers are paid living wages. A new approach to addressing hunger is desperately needed.”
The report, published by the Food and Agriculture Organisation, IFAD, UNICEF, the World Food Programme, and the World Health Organization, emphasizes the urgent need for coordinated global efforts to address the growing hunger crisis, particularly in Africa.
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