Food Insecurity a Threat to Africa, Says Expert

Linus Aleke in Abuja

The Managing Partner, Sahel Consulting, Agriculture and Nutrition Limited, Temi Adegoroye, has said that food insecurity is a threat to the continent of Africa.

He also regretted that Africa with its advantage of energetic youthful population, good climate conditions and arable land, is still plagued with food security crisis.

He further lamented that Sudan, Nigeria and other countries in the continent are amongst those classified as countries with acute food insecurity in the world, even when some countries in Sub Saharan Africa are leading producers in Cocoa, Cassava, Cashew nuts, Plantains etc.

Also, the 2023 report by Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the African Union Commission (AUC), the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), and the World Food Programme (WFP), revealed that nearly 282 million people in Africa – about 20 percent of the population, are undernourished, an increase of 57 million people since the COVID-19 pandemic began.

The report added that more than a billion people are unable to afford a healthy diet, stressing that around 30 percent of children are stunted because of malnutrition.

But while delivering a keynote address, at the 2024 virtual Sahel scholars conference on agriculture and nutrition for undergraduates across African universities themed, “Nourishing Tomorrow: Youth-Driven Solutions for Sustainable Food Security,” organized by Sahel Consulting, Agriculture and Nutrition Limited, Adegoroye, noted that no fewer than 50 to 70 percent of the population in Africa are involved in agricultural production.

Adegoroye, who is also a production, marketing and agribusiness value chain expert, said that this 70 percent of farmers, record 40 percent post-harvest losses annually. A situation he said would further exacerbate the food and nutrition crisis in Africa.

Earlier in his address of welcome, the Chief Operating Officer, Myagro Ltd, Patrick Tognisso, said that 60 percent of the labour force in Africa survive on agriculture, except in rare countries like South Africa and Botswana.

He averred that better agricultural practice impacts food security and nutrition, and better nutrition leads to improved productivity and education ultimately, and all that lead to overall economic growth.

According to him, “I worked in food, beverage, and consumables, and I was focusing on young people as consumers and indeed, two decades ago, this was the general narrative that was focused on. Africa was going to be the big thing because of these emerging youths as the future consumers.

“But as my career evolved, and I moved from consumables to production of goods and more recently to agribusiness, I did realize this, for Africa, the focus on the youths should not be on their consumable potentials, rather it should be on production and value creation potentials.

“Now, in Sub Saharan Africa, 50 percent of the population are young people, less than 35 years old. Picture this and still, this continent remains predominantly rural, 65 percent of the population or more still live in rural areas”.

He added that despite rapid globalization, an average of 50 to 60 percent of labour force, survive on agriculture, except in rare countries like South Africa and Botswana.

Agriculture, he said represents only 15 percent of GDP in most of these Sub-Saharan Africa nations.

He noted that the future of employment and of course food security will depend on the ability of these young workers to create jobs and to generate value in the agricultural space.