United Nation Agencies draws attention to unprecedented food crisis occurring in Africa

BY PAUL JUNOR

The release of a report by United Nations agencies in conjunction with the African Union Commission raised alarm bells on an unprecedented food crisis in Africa. It was reported in an article by Chinedu Asad of the Associated Press on Thursday, December 7^th, 2023. The report highlights the scope and extent of the crisis with at least three-fourths can’t afford a healthy diet, and a fifth are undernourished largely due to global world grain shortage and geopolitical events.

The ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine has brought about significant disruption in the free and uninterrupted supply of world grain to African countries. In addition, the persistent and ongoing effects of climate change have impacted the agricultural, economic and material conditions of many agri-business enterprises.

Furthermore, many African countries were disproportionately affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and lacked the: economic, physical and material resources and tools to recover. These three factors have contributed enormously to the global crisis that Africa is presently experiencing, and it seems like there is no end in sight in the near future.

According to the report, about 1.4 billion people in Africa are currently facing enormous levels of hunger and malnutrition. It states that millions are expected to be at risk of worsening hunger in the near future. In addition, the fact that the majority of Africa’s population is young and there are predictions that it will double by 2050 makes tackling this crisis even more difficult. Of all the regions in the world where the population is growing significantly, Africa is the only area where poverty levels are getting higher, and with soldiers promising a better life, many young people are tempted to believe them and resort to violence to achieve a greater outcome.

European countries have historically exploited Africa because of its natural resources and many of them continue to receive favourable deals because of their prior relationships with their past colonies. Africa has never benefited financially and economically from its wealth of natural resources, and many countries have had to depend on aid from international organizations and loans from the World Bank, or the International Monetary Fund. Many have to pay billions of dollars in interest to service these loans which are a stranglehold.

There has been much attention focused on the United Nations 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDS) which were adopted in 2015 as a universal call to: end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure that by 2030 all people enjoy peace and prosperity. Africa is nowhere near the possibility of attaining these goals or even to achieve its commitment to end hunger and all forms of malnutrition by 2025, according to the report.

The following organizations: the Food and Agriculture Organization, the U.N. The Economic Commission for Africa, the World Food Program, and the African Union Commission all collaborated in the report. The report states, “The majority of Africa’s population (about 78% or more than one billion people) remain unable to afford a healthy diet, compared with 42% at the global level and the number is rising.” In fact, in 2022, there were about 342 million Africans who were severely food insecure. This translates to about 38% of the 735 million hungry people around the world.

Furthermore, it is estimated that the majority of individuals who are deeply impacted by the food crisis are kids under the age of five, and about 30% of them are physically stunted due to malnutrition.

Able Haile-Gabriel, FAO regional representative for Africa, in the presence of officials from other agencies appealed for help. He stated, “The deterioration of the food security situation and the lack of progress towards the World Health Organization global nutrition targets make it imperative for countries to step up their efforts if they are to achieve a world without hunger and malnutrition by 2030.”