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How Africa Can Respond to Challenges of Climate Change, High Food Imports, Growing Young Population
This week, the FAO held its 29 th Regional Conference for Africa (ARC) in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire. The conference, a biennial event, provides a platform for policymakers and stakeholders to discuss agricultural development in the region, with the aim of promoting regional cooperation and coherent policies.
Global Food Policy Report: Making Africa's Food System More Inclusive, Sustainable
IFPRI’s 2016 Global Food Policy Report (GFPR) gives some good news for Africa – poverty and hunger both fell during the period 2003-2014. The share of the region’s population living on less than US$1.25 per day (purchasing power parity) declined from 42.9 percent to 36.9 percent, while the prevalence of malnourishment fell from 22.1 percent to 17 percent. Child stunting also fell from 40.2 percent to 35.9 percent.
Better Health for Better Productivity
Burkina Faso faces persistent high morbidity rates due to malaria, respiratory infections, malnutrition, diarrheic diseases, and HIV/AIDS, according to the country’s Ministry of Health. These health burdens can negatively impact the agricultural labor productivity of rural households by reducing both available labor and farming know-how.
Credit and Agricultural Productivity: Finding the Connection
Although Uganda has favorable agro-ecological conditions for farming, the country’s agricultural yields remain lower than the global average. For example, Irish potato yields in Uganda average 4.7 mt/ha, only 23 percent of global average yields; rice productivity is also low at 2.5 mt/ha, half the global average. A new study from the Uganda Strategy Support Program (USSP) on rice and potato farmers finds that increasing farmers’ access to credit can improve agricultural productivity – but not necessarily through the channels one might expect.
Decreased Harvests, Rising Prices Mean Hunger across Southern and Eastern Africa
The unusually strong 2015-2016 El Niño cycle has caused widespread drought throughout southern and eastern Africa, triggering delayed planting and crop failures, particularly in South Africa , Mozambique , Malawi, Botswana, Swaziland, and Zimbabwe. The drought, coupled with recent record-high temperatures, could drive as many as 36 million people into increased hunger in the region, according to an article in The Guardian .