FAO Regional Conference for Africa: Untapping Africa’s potential to end hunger and malnutrition

The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated existing food insecurity and malnutrition in many African countries, while in recent years, climate change, conflict, economic slowdowns, and pests have corroded livelihoods and pushed more people into hunger.

Speaking at the Regional Conference for Africa, FAO Assistant Director-General and Regional Representative for Africa, Abebe Haile-Gabriel, called for bold action to address overlapping crises in the region and build back better.

During the online event hosted by Zimbabwe, conference participants discussed the urgent need to build food and agriculture systems which are more resilient to transboundary crises such as those related to climate extremes, pests, and diseases. They also discussed fostering agricultural transformation through digital innovation and investment Partnerships.

FAO Director-General QU Dongyu offered concrete examples of partnerships among FAO, Members and donor partners, which ensure strong and coordinated approaches at country, regional and global levels. He cited the Global Action for Fall Armyworm Control effort and the significant progress made in control of the Desert Locust.

“In East Africa, the anticipatory action approach was quite successful with national Governments in collaboration with FAO and partners, protecting over 580 million USD worth of crops, enough to meet the annual cereal needs of 13 million people,” QU said.

For the first time, the European Union was represented at the Regional Conference at a very high level. Marjeta Jager, Deputy Director-General of the Directorate-General for International Cooperation and Development (DG DEVCO) , emphasized that global food systems are under pressure because of the COVID-19 pandemic, deepening the impact of climate shocks, conflicts and economic recession. “International cooperation is a must to reverse those trends. The European Union is working closely with FAO, WFP and other key international actors, including through the Global Network against Food Crises, to build up resilient food systems in Africa” she underlined in her remarks.

FAO estimates that donors will need to double their investments from now until 2030, roughly US$14 billion on average each year, to achieve the goal of zero hunger. Currently, Africa has recorded the fastest growth in the number of hungry people. If the trends continues, Africa will have the greatest total number of hungry people in the next decade, according to FAO.