Africa poised to end hunger by 2025

The African Union Commission (AUC), The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the Lula Institute are meeting in Addis Ababa for a three day High Level Meeting for Africans and International Leaders to draft a policy targeted at ending Hunger of the Continent.

The meeting which is currently underway seeks to design strategies and prescriptions for all the African Countries to address the issue of Hunger, Malnutrition and Food Insecurity on the African Continent.

Delivering his keynote address, the Director General of FAO, Jose Graziano da Silva said, confronting Hunger will not only be based on increasing food production on the continent rather, the need for concerted efforts and collective approach by all stakeholders to fight the menace.

“The decision to end hunger needs to be taken by society as a whole” he stressed.

He said the UN system, other international and regional organizations, including the African Union and others in Africa, academia, the private sector, producers' organizations; social movements; civil society organizations; private sector entities; research and academic institutions; and many other partners must bring their expertise to bear to promote food security on the continent.

The Director General of FAO challenged participants, particularly political leaders to take steps by directing their efforts at helping transform the agricultural sector and to ensure a food-secure African Continent.

He stressed the need for a coordinated efforts by African Countries to realize the dream of eradicating hunger entirely from the continent by 2025, a move he disclosed was the secret to the Brazilian success story.

“This is what motivated the African Union Commission, FAO and the former president of Brazil Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva to join forces and establish this partnership," the FAO Director General hinted.

He said that his outfit will support countries working within the framework of the Comprehensive African Agricultural Development Plan (CAADP).

Jose Graziano da Silva disclosed at the meeting that Ghana is among 11 other African countries which have met the internationally-agreed targets for halving the proportion of hungry people well before the 2015 deadline established by the Millennium Development Goals.

According to him, "Three of these countries have gone further and cut by half the total number of hungry people, as called for by the World Food Summit in 1996. They are Djibouti, Ghana and Sao Tome and Principe,” he mentioned.

On his part, the Director, Department of Rural Economy and Agriculture of the Africa Union Commission (AUC) Dr Abebe Haile Gabriel indicated that evidence suggest that about 240 million people in Africa are undernourished.

He said 40% of that population are children under five years of age noting that the phenomenon may lead to "irreversible mental and physical disability " of the children.

He expressed concern about the increasing number of hungry people on the continent, even though the continent has improved economically.

In view of this development, Dr Gabriel called for innovative ways by leaders to confront the hunger situation in Africa and commit adequate resources to eradicate poverty on the entire continent by 2025.

Ghana's minister responsible for Agriculture, Clement Kofi Humado who is also attending the meeting mentioned to Myjoyonline.com that he is expected to give a highlight on Ghana's progress and road-map in the transformation of the Agricultural sector especially within the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development framework.

The High Level Meeting is themed, "Renewed Partnership for Unified Approach to End Hunger in Africa by 2025 within the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) framework."