Rethinking food insecurity and undernutrition in Africa

It is clear that major development policies in developing countries pay little or no attention to food insecurity and undernutrition. Food insecurity and undernutrition are low on priority list of most countries particularly in Africa. But the costs of food insecurity and undernutrition are staggering. Food insecurity and undernutrition threaten human survival.

The 2012 Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) report : ‘The State of Food Insecurity in the World’ reveals that about 870 million people in the world (12.5%) are undernourished. The Lancet publication series of child and maternal malnutrition this year on malnutrition as well makes shocking revelations. According to the Lancet, undernutrition causes 3.1 million deaths annually or 45% of all child deaths in 2011.

It is obviously disastrous to underestimate the impacts of food insecurity and undernutrition on socio-economic development of countries.

The causes of food security and undernutrition are very clear. Africa has millions of hectares of uncultivated arable land. Even of those lands under cultivation, only less than 1% is irrigated. This explains why food production is so low and incapable of meeting human needs. Also, donor assistance to agriculture falls short to what is given to other sectors. In 2011, aid made available for nutrition was $418 million (an increase from US$259 million in 2008) constituting only 0.4% of total official development assistance (Di Ciommo 2013).

The political will of governments in Africa is also severely lacking. The 2012 Hunger and Nutrition Commitment Index (HANCI) corroborates this. HANCI measures the political commitment to reduce hunger and undernutrition in 45 developing countries using 22 indicators and 3 basic areas of government action: policies and programmes, legal framework and public expenditure. Of the last 10 poor-performing countries, 7 countries are from Africa. They include Lesotho, Mauritania, Sudan, Burundi, Angola, Democratic Republic of Congo and Guinea Bissau.

Food insecurity and undernutrition perpetuate poverty and hinder significant economic growth. Undernutrition imposes substantial health burden on children. It as well impairs both short term and long term educational opportunities of children. In the midst of these problems, it is much a worry that investment in agriculture and targeted actions to tackle undernutrition is low in Africa. In this, the sad reality seems to be happening. Progress towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) is under threat. These include MDG 1 (eradicate extreme poverty and hunger), MDG 2 (achieve universal primary education), and MDG 4 (reduce child mortality).

Today, we have found ourselves in a situation where economic and political will ought to be the options. It is obvious that a lot has been done in the past few years to scale up food production and improve nutrition. The G8 members, through the L’Aquila Food Security Initiative at the 2009 G8 Summit, have committed more than 50% of funds they pledged to tackle food insecurity and undernutrition.

Some countries have shown that with strong economic and political will it is possible to reduce or eradicate malnutrition and food insecurity. Brazil through its nutrition policy has been an incredible success story. Today, Brazil’s school feeding programme is being implemented in most African countries including among others, Ghana, Senegal, Kenya, Nigeria, and Malawi.

But much more needs to be done. Africa countries ought to absolutely commit to total eradication of hunger and undernutrition, the worst forms of food insecurity. We must aim at a global society where no traces of hunger and undernutrition can be found. By this, a global concerted effort is needed to rekindle the fight. And beyond economic commitment, it’s important for African governments to demonstrate the political will to end hunger and undernutrition. How do we get this done?

Let’s consider improving agriculture. Smallholder farmers feed more than 70% people in Africa and the world at large. Investment must be directed at enhancing the capacity of these farmers to produce at low cost and with ready market. Women constitute more than 60 percent of global food producers. Women need resources like land, inputs, and seeds to enable them produce quality food.

It is also imperative to bring the private sector on board. Some steps have already been taken. The Amsterdam Initiative against Malnutrition (AIM), a Dutch partnership model bringing together public and private actors, is important to show the way. AIM launched in May 2009 aims is to eliminate malnutrition for 100 million people in Africa by 2015. Similar initiatives must be encouraged to boost funding for targeted nutrition programmes.

The approach to fulfilling commitments to agricultural investments in Africa has to change. Crucially, the African Union in a summit in Addis Ababa in July 2013 adopted unified and focused measures that will end hunger and malnutrition by 2025. In the Addis Declaration, African Heads of State and Government have agreed to dedicate funding and support to help drive agriculture. This is very positive in fight against food insecurity and undernutrition. The AU has declared 2014 as the Year of Agriculture and Food Security. These represent a decisive step towards addressing the challenges at hand.

But there is a cause to worry. It is a different thing to make a commitment and to fulfill those commitments. Thus whether or not these commitments will be adhered to by member countries remains an issue. The implementation commitments made to boost agricultural development in the region have been poor. A case in point was the AU Declaration in Maputo agreed upon in 2003. The Maputo Declaration enjoined African countries to increase investment in agricultural sector to at least 10% of their budget by 2008. At the end of the 2008, only 4 of the 19 countries met the 10% spending target. African governments must translate the talk into action. The Addis Declaration is another unique opportunity to accelerate and sustain the momentum in addressing hunger, food insecurity, and undernutrition.

Of course, there is no other option. Human progress will be a mirage if hunger, food insecurity and undernutrition are not drastically reduced. It is true that efforts in the past decade to reduce poverty, hunger, and undernutrition have been impressive. But they are not enough. Governments cannot afford to relent. We ought to realize that nutrition is an essential sustainable development goal that African governments ought to embrace.

The G8 in 2012 launched the landmark New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition to achieve sustained agricultural growth and lift 50 million people out of poverty over the next ten years. The 2013 G8 Summit marked another opportunity for G8 members to bolster their commitments to invest in food security and nutrition in developing countries. The promise must be kept.

BY: Stephen Yeboah. The author is a Research and Communications Assistant at the Africa Progress Panel Secretariat, based in Geneva. He is also the Managing Editor of http://www.developmentmail.org/. He can be reached at: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

The Africa Progress Panel, chaired by former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, launches its Africa Progress Report 2014 in May on financing Africa’s agriculture. Follow updates on twitter: @africaprogress, facebook:https://www.facebook.com/africaprogresspanel and webpage:http://www.africaprogresspanel.org/.

Picture credit: Pu Nisio