Why Is Starvation Nonetheless a Problem in Africa?

With border closures, provide chain interruptions and lack of revenue attributable to lockdowns attributable to COVID-19, the variety of individuals going through acute starvation world wide is estimated to rise from 135 million to 265 million this 12 months. That is significantly the case in sub-Saharan Africa, the place earlier than the pandemic 20% of all residents have been already thought of undernourished and 277 million individuals out of the continent’s 1.28 billion inhabitants confronted extreme meals insecurity.

Though sadly not a brand new phenomenon for Africa, this unprecedented degree of starvation is pointless and presents a chance to reassess the established order of meals manufacturing on the African continent. The UN Meals and Agriculture Group estimates that $1 trillion of meals is misplaced or wasted yearly —  roughly one-third of the world’s meals, or sufficient to feed 2 billion individuals. The USA alone wastes roughly 30% to 40% of its annual meals provide.

Twofold Strategy

Why then is starvation such a problem in Africa? Dwelling to over 60% of the world’s uncultivated arable land, the African continent has the aptitude to produce sufficient meals to feed itself and maybe the remainder of the world. Nevertheless, many African nations presently import the vast majority of their staple meals price $35 billion a 12 months even when they’ve means to supply it. Nigeria, for instance, imports over a 3rd of the rice it consumes, whereas South Sudan has few sources of native meals manufacturing and is fully reliant on meals assist.

The current starvation scenario in Africa requires a twofold method: a big humanitarian response to handle instant wants of these going through hunger this 12 months, together with medium and long-term measures to enhance meals entry and manufacturing for African residents. Fortuitously, a number of options exist that authorities, worldwide assist and personal sector companions can construct upon and scale to alleviate Africa’s current and future meals shortages.

First is rising farming productiveness. Research recommend utilizing new farming practices to extend small-scale farmers’ crop yields might triple the manufacturing of staple items equivalent to maize in sub-Saharan Africa. Sustainable farming practices specifically profit the surroundings and permit farmers to generate extra revenue on their harvests every season. The One Acre Fund, Acumen Fund and Alliance for a Inexperienced Revolution in Africa are nice examples of organizations presently equipping small-scale farmers with instruments equivalent to coaching, financing and entry to new seeds and tools to enhance their crop yields.

Then comes addressing structural obstacles. This consists of addressing land points and crossborder commerce tariffs that hinder regional meals manufacturing and distribution. Land possession is commonly a problem for small-scale farmers, particularly in rural areas the place there are few authorized mechanisms to find out who can personal or lease land. African farmers lose roughly 40% of every harvest attributable to crop decay, and so initiatives equivalent to creating central storage and drying amenities have allowed farmers to retailer recent meals and get it to market with fewer losses. Regional commerce obstacles and lack of roads additionally restrict how a lot meals could be distributed throughout the continent, and implementing insurance policies just like the African Continental Free Commerce Space settlement would promote regional market integration and supply farmers extra alternatives to promote their items.

Tech and Added Worth

There may be additionally a necessity to include new applied sciences. There are actually extra digital monetary companies and fintech merchandise obtainable to African farmers than ever earlier than. These vary from blockchain applied sciences and cryptocurrencies that assist small-scale farmers acquire entry to credit score with a view to purchase seeds to new apps and data-centered farming sources.

Cell functions equivalent to iCow, FeoFarmer, Good day Tractor and Precision Agriculture for Improvement present details about livestock, farming strategies and tools leases to help farmers of their decision-making, whereas initiatives like Digital Inexperienced present video coaching sources for farming communities in Ethiopia. There may be additionally nice potential to develop apps to raised coordinate meals manufacturing, storage and supply logistics in addition to use of drones in facilitating this course of. 

Lastly, there must be a concentrate on worth addition. African nations largely export uncooked supplies however import completed merchandise, thereby dropping the power to generate larger income for his or her current pure sources. Agriculture isn’t any totally different. For instance, Africa produces 75% of the world’s cocoa provide however receives solely 2% of the $100 billion a 12 months produced by chocolate gross sales worldwide. This implies nations expertise larger losses if the worth of uncooked items fluctuates, which in flip negatively impacts small-scale farmers. Along with rising revenues, worth addition — or rising an excellent’s worth by means of added processing — is confirmed to assist create jobs.

As Africa faces a way forward for elevated inhabitants and local weather change, the present challenges of meals waste, manufacturing and starvation will solely turn out to be extra distinguished. Though the options recognized right here is not going to end in instant adjustments, they will present a essential basis for restructuring agricultural manufacturing and meals distribution in Africa. COVID-19 doesn’t but have a recognized treatment, however starvation does, and its present magnitude ought to function a wake-up name for each Africa and the worldwide neighborhood to behave right now and tackle a burgeoning but solvable disaster.

*[Young Professionals in Foreign Policy is a partner institution of Fair Observer.]

The views expressed on this article are the creator’s personal and don’t essentially mirror Truthful Observer’s editorial coverage.