The New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) has reiterated
determination of Africa Union on the possibility of having zero hunger in the
next nine years, reports NaijaAgroNet.
The NEPAD Agency’s CEO, Dr Ibrahim Mayaki, gave this
indication on the premise of the goals set in the 2014 Malabo Declaration
through the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP), is
ending hunger in Africa by 2025.
Speaking in Pretoria, South Africa at the unveiling of the Zero
hunger in Africa by 2025 in collaboration Pardee Center for International
Futures, he noted that nearly one in five people is hungry, even as hunger has
decreased steadily since the mid-1990s, due to population growth, but has
actually increased in absolute numbers.
In addition, Mayaki said, net food imports since the early
1990s have grown to about 14 per cent of the total demand, maintaining that one
of the goals set in the 2014 Malabo Declaration through the Comprehensive
Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP), is ending hunger in Africa by
2025.
He emphasised that success in Africa will therefore be
through regional integration, be it in ending hunger, agriculture or
infrastructure, highlighting the major levers in policies, investments,
technologies as well as human and institutional capacities necessary to sustain
desired levels of supply and demand-access to food.
“We cannot continue doing business as we are doing it today,
since growth in Africa has not been inclusive enough. We need improved capacity
to implement various interventions to do things differently if we are to
deliver on Africa’s Agenda 2063 and the goal of eliminating hunger by 2025,” Dr.
Mayaki underscored.
Dr Lindiwe Sibanda , CEO of the Food, Agriculture and
Natural Resources Policy Analysis Network (FANRPAN), noted that hunger affects
women and children disproportionately, while women are the backbone of
agriculture in Africa.
“The face of hunger in Africa is that 32 percent of under-5
children are stunted – the numbers have stagnated instead of going down. If the
cognitive capacity of children in Africa is reduced for life, who are the
future leaders for the continent? Agriculture needs to be more nutrition
sensitive. Hidden hunger challenges are therefore critical and need to be
addressed,” Dr. Sibanda said.
Speaking at the same event, Lynette Chen, CEO of the NEPAD
Business Foundation also maintained that food security and the trajectory of
economic growth need to be balanced with nutrition sensitive agriculture.
During the launch of the report on ending hunger in Africa, it was recognised that while the goal of eliminating hunger by 2025 might be very ambitious, it is not impossible. Steve Hedden, Research System Developer from Pardee Center maintained that how we define hunger will dictate how we get there and how we reach our targets.
Isaac Oyimah/GEE
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