Accelerated Action for a Hunger Free Africa
In spite of the progress achieved during the last two decades, Sub-Saharan Africa still has the highest prevalence of chronic hunger in the world.
To reverse this trend, agriculture and nutrition experts from the private and public sector will mark this year’s Africa Food and Nutrition Security Day (ADFNS) on November the 3rd in Kinshasa, DRC, in order to accelerate action for a hunger free Continent by ensuring that there is a renewed and demonstrable political commitment by African leaders to champion hunger eradication and increase/improve/accelerate nutrition programmes.
The 5th ADFNS, jointly hosted by the African Union Commission (AUC), the NEPAD Agency, the Government of the Democratic Republic of Congo and the UN system partners amongst others, will be commemorated under the theme “Accelerated Action for a Hunger Free Africa’’ in order to strengthen the momentum towards achieving the Sustainable Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by tackling the Post 2015 Agenda.
AUC Commissioner for Rural Economy and Agriculture, H.E Tumusiime Rhoda Peace, stated ‘’it is paramount that there is high political leadership drive in mobilizing and rallying the different sections of the society, both public and private, each to play an active part, be it investments in agribusiness or otherwise, or motivating others through various community supportive roles’’. She further pointed out, ‘’the Commission will continue and even accelerate its advocacy and lobbying for political leaders to increase its funding to direct and indirect, immediate and long-term programmes for cutting down vulnerability and low resilience in populations suffering from structural or transitory food insecurity’’
According to the Chief Executive Officer of the NEPAD Agency, Dr Ibrahim Mayaki, proven solutions for food and nutrition security challenges already exist and need to be replicated. He further stated, “there is need for accelerated actions to strengthen food security of households, protect vulnerable groups against the various forms of malnutrition and a proper support in cases of acute malnutrition are critical for all stakeholders’’ To that end, said Dr Mayaki, ‘’contributing to an Africa free of hunger requires the revitalization of agriculture through the improvement of productivity combined with an expansion of regional trade which has been neglected for so long’’.
Due to the fact that several indigenous species of crops and animals, which play vital role in the diets of most African communities, have been gradually neglected from mainstream agriculture, and as such, are now collectively called “Neglected and Underutilized Species” (NUS), the AUC together with FAO and EU will organize, ahead of the 5th ADFNS, an expert symposium on November 2 to discuss the importance of sustainable diets for Africa’s nutrition security, with special focus on traditional and indigenous diets.
His Majesty King Letsie III of the Kingdom of Lesotho, as Africa’s Nutrition Champion, together with hhigh-level leaders from global, regional and national agriculture associations, civil society and farmer’s organizations, the private sector, scientific and research institutions, and development partners will be attending the event. .The ADFNS was virtually launched during the October 2010 Conference of Ministers of Agriculture in Lilongwe, Malawi. Subsequent editions of the ADFNS followed in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (2011 and 2012) and in Niamey, Niger (2013).
The ADFNS is a political platform for galvanizing renewed commitments by African Leaders toward reversing the current malnutrition issues