Number of Hungry People to Rise in Africa Says FAO, AUC

Gilbert Ekugbe
The African Union Commission (AUC), the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO), and the UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) have warned that the number of hungry people in Africa would continue to rise except African countries would heed the call for agri-food systems transformation.

The report said that hunger is being spurred by conflict, climate change and economic slowdowns including those triggered by COVID-19.

The international organsations, in their new interactive digital report, said that hunger in Africa has worsened substantially since 2013 and even experienced much deteriorated between 2019 and 2020.

“The situation is expected to have deteriorated further this year, with no easing of hunger’s main drivers,” the report said.

The report advised countries to engage in and leverage the outcomes of the United Nations’ Food Systems Summit, the Nutrition for Growth Summit and the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference COP26.

“A common vision, strong political leadership and effective cross-sectoral collaboration, which include the private sector, are essential to agree on trade-offs and to identify and implement sustainable solutions that transform agrifood systems,” they said in Africa Regional Overview of Food Security and Nutrition 2021: Statistics and Trends.

The digital report further stressed that in 2020, 281.6 million Africans were undernourished; an increase of 89.1 million over 2014, pointing out that there is significant variation in the levels and trends of hunger across the sub regions.