Accelerated Action for a Hunger Free Africa
Africa Food and Nutrition Security Day
Kinshasa, October 31, 2014 - In spite of the progress achieved during the last two decades, Sub-Saharan Africa still has the highest prevalence of chronic hunger in the world.
To reverse this trend, agriculture and nutrition experts from the private and public sector will mark this year’s Africa Food and Nutrition Security Day (ADFNS) on November the 3rd in Kinshasa, DRC, and appeal for a renewed political commitment by African leaders to champion hunger eradication.
The 5th ADFNS, jointly hosted by the African Union Commission (AUC), the NEPAD Agency, the Government of the Democratic Republic of Congo and the UN system partners amongst others, will be celebrated under the theme “Accelerated Action for a Hunger Free Africa’’.
“ It is paramount that there is high political leadership drive in mobilizing and rallying the different sections of the society, both public and private, each to play an active part, be it investments in agribusiness or otherwise, or motivating others through various community supportive roles’’, said, today, AUC Commissioner for Rural Economy and Agriculture, Ms. Tumusiime Rhoda Peace.
Ms. Peace further pointed out: “ the Commission will continue and even accelerate its advocacy and lobbying for political leaders to increase its funding to direct and indirect, immediate and long-term programmes for cutting down vulnerability and low resilience in populations suffering from structural or transitory food insecurity’’.
According to the Chief Executive Officer of the NEPAD Agency, Dr Ibrahim Mayaki, proven solutions for food and nutrition security challenges already exist and need to be replicated.
“There is need for accelerated actions to strengthen food security of households, protect vulnerable groups against the various forms of malnutrition and a proper support in cases of acute malnutrition are critical for all stakeholders’’.
Dr Mayaki is convinced that “contributing to an Africa free of hunger requires the revitalization of agriculture through the improvement of productivity combined with an expansion of regional trade which has been neglected for so long’’.
The AUC together with FAO and EU will organize, ahead of the 5th ADFNS, an expert symposium on November 2 to discuss the importance of sustainable diets for Africa’s nutrition security, with special focus on traditional and indigenous diets, the “Neglected and Underutilized Species” (NUS).
The Second International Conference on Nutrition (ICN2), an inclusive inter-governmental meeting on nutrition jointly organized by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO), next 19-21 November 2014 in Rome, will also contribute to keep nutrition high on the international and national development agendas.
His Majesty King Letsie III of the Kingdom of Lesotho, also Africa’s Nutrition Champion, and other high-level leaders from global, regional and national agriculture associations, civil society and farmer’s organizations, the private sector, scientific and research institutions, and development partners will attend the event.
The ADFNS was virtually launched during the October 2010 Conference of Ministers of Agriculture in Lilongwe, Malawi. The first celebrations took place in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (2011 and 2012) and in Niamey, Niger (2013).
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