New UN report reveals that hunger in Africa continues to rise

• Published date: 19 February 2019
• Publication title: Business and Financial Times

The report highlights the need for increased data collection, monitoring and implementation of climate smart agriculture practices.

Hunger in Africa continues to rise after many years of decline, threatening the continent's hunger eradication efforts to meet the Malabo Goals 2025 and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, particularly the Sustainable Development Goal 2 (SDG2). New data presented in the joint UN report, the Africa Regional Overview of Food Security and Nutrition released today, indicates that 237 million people in sub-Saharan Africa are suffering from chronic undernutrition - derailing gains made in the recent past years.

The joint report by the Regional Office for Africa of the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) was launched today in Addis Ababa, at an event presided over by FAO's Deputy Director-General Climate and Natural Resources, Maria Helena Semedo.

It shows that more people continue to suffer from undernourishment in Africa than in any other region - evidence suggests that in 2017, 20 percent of the African population was undernourished.

'The worsening trend in Africa is due to difficult global economic and worsening environmental conditions; and, in many countries, conflict and climate variability and extremes, sometimes combined. Economic growth slowed in 2016 due to weak commodity prices, in particular for oil and minerals. Food insecurity has worsened in countries affected by conflict, often exacerbated by drought or floods. For example, in Southern and Eastern Africa, many countries suffered from drought,' FAO Assistant Director-General and Regional Representative for Africa, Abebe Haile-Gabriel, and ECA Executive Secretary, Vera Songwe, said in their joint foreword to the report.

Of the 257 million hungry people in Africa, 237 million are in sub-Saharan Africa and 20 million in Northern Africa. The annual UN report indicates that compared to 2015, there were an additional 34.5 million more undernourished people in Africa, of which 32.6 million in sub-Saharan Africa and 1.9 million in Northern Africa. Nearly half of the increase is due to the rise in the number of undernourished people in Western Africa, while another third is from Eastern Africa.

At the regional level, the prevalence of stunting in children under five is falling, but only a few countries are on track to meet the global nutrition target for stunting. The number of overweight...