FAO and Pan-African parliament unveil landmark model law on food and nutrition security in Africa

28 June 2024 – African Parliamentarians, in collaboration with key stakeholders, have launched the Pan-African Parliament Model Law on Food and Nutrition Security.

Designed to guide and inspire African Union member states, this Model Law aims to  provide parliamentarians with a comprehensive set of legislative patterns and clauses to guide them to design sound legal and institutional frameworks that promote and protect food and nutrition security and the right to adequate food at their respective countries or constituencies.

The development of the Model Law is a collaborative effort between the Pan-African Parliament, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), and other partners. This initiative follows the signing of the first ever Memorandum of Understanding between FAO and the Pan African Parliament in 2016. The Pan African Parliament subsequently established the Pan African Parliament Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition to advance parliamentary action against hunger and malnutrition.  

Dr. Abebe Haile-Gabriel, FAO Assistant Director-General and Regional Representative for Africa hailed the launch of this Model Law as the fruit of an unending commitment to ending hunger and malnutrition in Africa. This partnership has framed efforts to advance parliamentary action against hunger and malnutrition through technical assistance, capacity development, awareness-raising, and policy dialogue.

“Our technical and legal experts have designed several tools dedicated to topics such as agrifood systems, nutrition, gender, land tenure, responsible investments in agriculture, and school meals, among others. These resources are available online, and I encourage you to utilize and share them with your colleagues.”

H.E. Chief Fortune Charumbira, President of the Pan-African Parliament, emphasized the need to prioritize and intensify the fight against hunger to end hunger on the continent. “We have countries from other continents that are experiencing serious climate change challenges but are managing food challenges. In our continent, we have everything for our sustainability when it comes to producing our food, but we are failing” He further urged parliamentarians to move towards domestication and thanked FAO and other partners for their support.

PAP Legal Counsel, Clement Mavungu noted “The Model Law comes at a critical moment where the world, particularly Africa, is facing challenges related to climate change, desertification, food production. The Model Law proposes to Member States an instrument that can respond to current challenges.”

After steady improvement between 2000 and 2010, hunger is now on the rise. Over a billion people in Africa cannot afford a healthy diet. An estimated 868 million people were moderately or severely food-insecure in 2022 and more than one-third of them – 342 million people – were severely food insecure. More than two-thirds of the population in Central Africa, Eastern Africa and Western Africa faced moderate or severe food insecurity, meaning they did not have access to adequate food.

Kysseline Cherestal, Legal Officer in FAO’s Development Law Service of the FAO welcomed the enthusiasm in the room and joined participants in a call to seize the moment and ensure that the model law is implemented so its content becomes a reality for every African man, woman and child.

FAO remains committed to supporting the domestication and popularization of this Model Law, reinforcing its dedication to improving food and nutrition security across the continent.

The launch of this Model Law took place as FAO is exploring the most appropriate arrangements to organize the Third Global Parliamentary Summit against Hunger and Malnutrition in 2026 in Africa, as requested in the Global Parliamentary Pact against Hunger and Malnutrition. This legally non-binding document was adopted during the Second Global Parliamentary Summit against Hunger and Malnutrition and represents a historic milestone in the fight to end hunger and achieve food security for all, as the first global parliamentary pact on the progressive realization of the right to adequate food and the transformation of agrifood systems.