The
20th joint edition of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and
Development (OECD) and Food and Agriculture Orgaanisation (FAO) has shown
optimistic of ending high price regime of agricultural products in the
Sub-Saharan Africa, reports NaijaAgroNet.
The
outlook published Monday and made available to NaijaAgroNet, projected that inflation-adjusted agricultural commodity prices will remain
relatively flat overall in the coming decade. However, livestock prices are
expected to rise relative to those for crops.
They noted that as incomes improve, especially
in emerging economies, demand for meat, fish and poultry will demonstrate
strong growth, stressing that this creates additional demand for feed, particularly
from coarse grains and protein meals, causing their prices to rise prices
relative to food staples such as wheat and rice.
The duo also noted that globally, the
increased demand for food and feed for a growing and more affluent population
is projected to be mostly met through productivity gains. Yield improvements
are expected to account for about 80 percent of the increase in crop output.
In line with the baseline analysis made in the
Outlook, under a "business as usual" scenario -- in which
agricultural productivity grows at the current trend rate and no major action
is taken to reduce hunger -- projected growth in food availability would result
in a reduction in the number of undernourished people in the world from around
800 million now to under 650 million in 2025.
The analysis indicates that in sub-Saharan
Africa the rate of undernourishment would decline an estimated 23 to 19 percent
-- but because of rapid population growth the region would still account for a
rising share of the world's population suffering from hunger.
This implies that without decisive steps to
move away from business-as-usual, hunger would not be eradicated by 2030 - the
global target recently adopted by the international community - and that
decisive action is needed.
Isaac Oyimah/GEE