Data

This piece originally appeared on the WeRobotics blog .

This blog originally appeared on IFPRI.org .

Trade integration is a powerful tool for economic growth, development, and poverty alleviation. In the Malabo Declaration (PDF) of June 2014, African countries committed to tripling the level of intra-African agricultural trade and services by 2025, fast-tracking the establishment of a Continental Free Trade Area and adopting a continent-wide Common External Tariff scheme.

Reliable, timely data is crucial to fight hunger and malnutrition and to drive overall development in Africa south of the Sahara; however, significant research and data gaps exist, in terms of both the availability of information and the effective, transparent use of that information by policymakers. (For further discussion of existing research gaps, read about our side event at the recent 2016 ReSAKSS Conference). Improving food security information (FSI) is therefore a development goal that goes hand-in-hand with eradicating hunger.

When it comes to policymaking, sound information is key. This is especially true for agriculture and food policies in Africa south of the Sahara, where hunger levels remain the highest in the world (2016 Global Hunger Index) and where agriculture accounts for a significant portion of GDP (17.1 percent in 2014; World Bank).

ReSAKSS:  Achieving a Nutrition Revolution for Africa