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- Oct 16, 2014
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A fresh food market in Kigali. Rwanda is the only country in East Africa expected to halve the proportion of hungry population before the year 2020.
Rwanda is the only country in East Africa expected to halve the proportion of hungry population before the year 2020.
Though the tiny East African country will not be able to meet the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) hunger target, which elapses this year, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) says the country is on the right track in the fight against hunger, unlike its neighbours which are still off the mark and may take longer to succeed.
Rwanda along with Chad and Sierra Leone, are close to reaching the MDG hunger target, even though the burden in the three countries remains high, according to FAO.
Despite the country's positives, the UN organisation warns that East Africa still remains the sub-region with the biggest hunger problem being home to 124 million undernourished people.
Part of the reason why the region is performing badly in the fight against hunger, according to FAO, is that is characterised by poor agricultural growth and inadequate social protection measures.
"In several countries that have failed to reach the international hunger targets, natural and human-induced disasters or political instability have generated a status of protracted crisis that has prevented the protection of vulnerable population groups and the promotion of income opportunities for all," the UN organisation says.
West Africa, on the other hand, is considered the most successful sub-region in reducing hunger. The number of undernourished people has decreased by 24.5 per cent since 1990–1992, while the proportion of undernourished is projected to be less than 10 per cent in 2014–2016.
"This success has been achieved despite a combination of limiting factors, such as rapid population growth - Nigeria is the most populated country in the region -drought in the Sahel and the high food prices experienced in recent years," said the FAO.
According to the FAO, though the lack of reliable information on food availability and access has prevented a sound analysis of the proportion of the undernourished for countries such as Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eritrea and Somalia, food security indicators for which data are available suggest that their levels of undernourishment remain very high.
Like in many other regions, the agriculture sector in East Africa, considered the engine of growth, is undergoing difficult times partly due to weak institutions and the negative effects of climate change, making it difficult for member states to effectively fight hunger.
In its latest study, the FAO on the state of food insecurity in the world, cites Tanzania as one of the countries whose high economic growth has not helped improve the country's food security and nutrition status.
"Low investment in agriculture, which is dominated by small family farmers producing for subsistence and having poor access to local and international markets, appears to explain, at least partly, the divergence. In addition, hunger and poor nutrition constrained the productive capacity of the labour force," adds FAO.
Secure access to land also remains a key constraint, not only for agriculture, but also for domestic and foreign investors, the UN organisation adds.
Apart from East Africa, another region struggling to achieve the hunger MDG target is Central Africa where the number of undernourished people more than doubled between 1990-1992 and 2014-2016, while the proportion of undernourished declined by 23.4 per cent.
The divergence between the increase in absolute numbers and the decline in the proportion of undernourished is explained by Central Africa's rapid population growth.
However, FAO says the lack of progress in absolute terms reflects prevailing problems in the sub-region, notably political instability, civil strife and outright war, as is the case in the Central African Republic.
In North Africa, going by the trends and levels of undernourishment, the region has kept undernourished levels below five per cent as per the 2014–16 projections.
Source: The East African
