Ministers lament escalating hunger in Africa 

Ministers of Agriculture across Africa have raised concern over the frightening level of hunger across the continent in the past two years.

The ministers, during the 33rd Regional Ministerial Conference for Africa, organised by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), at Rabat, Morocco, attributed the increase to Coronavirus (COVID-19), ongoing conflicts, climate crisis and economic shocks,

Director-General of FAO, QU Dongyu, said the challenges were amid the continent’s vast possibilities and optimism about the opportunities that lie ahead.

“Africa boasts the largest area of arable land of any continent and is abundant in natural resources,” he said. “Africa’s young people offer extraordinary potential.”

He stressed that pushing forward on the regional agenda embodied in joint commitments such as the Maputo Declaration and Malabo Declaration would require charting a new course, together and now, to transform the continent’s agrifood systems and called for strategic partnerships, greater investments, and harnessing of digital technologies to drive efficiency and productivity in Africa’s agriculture sector.

According to the DG, the ARC33 enables high-level consultations to identify key priorities in the region to be considered in preparing FAO’s Programme of Work and Budget for the next biennium.

He added: “The Four Betters – Better Production, Better Nutrition, Better Environment and Better Life – are the cardinal points of FAO’s Strategic Framework 2022-31.”