Director-General of Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO)  Jacques Diouf says urgent attention should be given to Africa’s present food security situation.

Diouf made the statement in his address at the 26th session of the FAO’s Regional Conference for Africa in Luanda, Angola.

An FAO statement quoted him as saying:“In sub-Saharan Africa, since 2009, over 269 million people are malnourished and 30 per cent of the population suffers from hunger.  “This situation clearly demands our urgent and undivided attention.’’

He noted, however, that the recent global economic crisis, in spite of its negative effect, had placed agriculture and food security at the heart of national and regional development policies and programmes.

“This  makes it possible to look to the next decade with greater optimism. This new order of priorities should be an opportunity to support small producers and strengthen family farming,” he declared.

He noted that agriculture faced multiple constraints, ranging from a lack of access to water and modern inputs to poor rural infrastructure.

“To ensure sustainable food production and achieve food security, agriculture needs to attain significant growth rates over the next four decades,’’ the Director-General said, noting however, that the continent had seen several “success stories” over the past years.

He also identified under-investment in agriculture as the core reason for African hunger and malnutrition.

He further noted  that only nine African countries allocated at least 10 per cent of their national budgets to agriculture, as pledged by heads of state and governments at the African Union Summit in Maputo in 2003.

According to him, the share of Official Development Assistance from rich countries that is allocated to developing country agriculture has fallen at the global level from 19 per cent in 1980 to around five per cent today.  “Nonetheless, I remain convinced that with the political will and good governance, Africa will be able to develop its agriculture to adequately feed its population,” he stressed.

The objective should be that “five years from now, no African child will be dying of hunger and malnutrition,” Diouf said, quoting Malawi President Bingu Wa Mutharika, current Chairperson of the African Union.