Rukuni predicts faster food security for Africa by 2025, charges media

NaijaAgroNe:

A professor of Agricultural Economics, Mandivamba Rukuni has predicted that Africa’s agriculture is poised to grow faster and by 2025 Africa will be food secured, NaijaAgroNet reports.

This is coming as he charged African media practitioners to see something good on the continent and report same always.

Prof. Rukuni who advises African Union (AU) on Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) and Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) among others made these assertions at a two-day training workshop of CAADP Journalists Network in Pretoria, South Africa.

According to him, there are avalanche of development messages African journalists should showcase to the world, including that Africa’s agriculture is now grows faster and by 2025 Africa will reach food secure, stressing that Africa’s economies are rising sustainably, though many Africans are still poor and hungry.

He also told NaijaAgroNet that African agriculture is growing slowly now after decades of stagnation and food security is improving, stressing that sustained improvements in governance and political stability will usher in these predictions.

Prof. Rukuni equally predicted that the industrialised world will have no capacity to feed 8 billion people by 2040 and Africa will have to be the food-basket of the world by next 27 years, insisting these are some of the stories; Africans are waiting to hear so as to build their confidence and belief.

“Africans need to re-write their own narratives, create their own future and fulfill own destiny. African journalists, therefore, have the unique role in shaping that narrative, so as to aid the main responsibility in re-branding Africa,” he said.

The Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) Prof. Rukuni said, is a major part of the narrative on ‘African solution to an African problem’ although Africa has a lot of homework to do.

Pointing out that between year 2000 and 2012 were proverbial unprecedented decade for the continent for Africa which now has impressive economic growth across the 54 countries accompanied with improved governance, human development indicators.

Despite the aforementioned good signs, Prof. Rukuni decried that Africa still faces major challenges of poverty, food insecurity, concerns that Africa is unlikely to meet most of the MDGs, especially MDG 1 on eradicating extreme poverty and hunger by 2015

Remmy Nweke in South Africa 

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Pix: Prof. Mandi Rukuni (2) Brenda Zulu with Mwanja Nyajo of NEPAD, Marie-Noelle Guichi and Agathe Aline