By Adedapo Adesanya
The United Nations has predicted that Africa will replace Asia as the continent with the highest number of people experiencing hunger in the world by 2030.
In its annual State of Food Security and Nutrition report published on Wednesday, the global agency said that the continent is seeing a “clear trend” of rising prevalence of undernourishment.
The report noted that Africa already has the largest proportion of people who do not have enough nutritious food to eat (20.4 per cent) but Asia is home to more than half the world’s hungry people.
In 2023, 384.5 million people in Asia were facing hunger, compared with 298.4 million in Africa.
The report said that if current trends continue, almost 600 million people will be chronically undernourished by 2030, with 53 per cent living in Africa. The figure will resemble those seen in 2015, said the report, marking a concerning stagnation in progress.
It also warned that rising conflict will continue to contribute to the issue. For instance, in areas of Ethiopia, farmers cannot access their land and have been forced from their homes.
Speaking on the development, Mr Alvaro Lario, president of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), said the situation is “alarming” and projected to get worse unless action is taken.
“In a decade, because of population growth and current dynamics, [the problem] will be harder to solve, with a much higher number of people in Africa suffering from chronic hunger,” said Lario.
Asia had a bigger focus on local production, diversification of crops, the use of fertilisers and more public investment than in Africa, Mr Lario added.
Ms Elizabeth Nsimalda, president of the Eastern Africa Farmers Federation (EAFF), which represents 25 million food producers, said: “We are losing the battle against hunger, especially in rural communities where many of the people who produce the food we eat are unable to feed themselves and their families.”
On his part, Mr Olivier De Schutter, UN special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights and co-chair of the International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems, said: “This is not just a blip; the global industrial food system is disastrously vulnerable to increasing climate, conflict, and economic shocks, with climate change increasingly pounding farmers.
“Building climate-resilient food systems is now a life-or-death matter. As is establishing social protection floors and ensuring workers are paid living wages. We desperately need a new recipe for addressing hunger.”