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Agricultural experts discuss food security in Africa

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Agricultural experts in Africa have raised concerns about the growing population rates which presents a major challenge in efforts to adequately feed the people on the continent.

The concerns were raised during an ongoing meeting of farmers, agro-researchers and other stakeholders on the theme “Challenges and opportunities for agricultural intensification of the humid highland systems of sub-Saharan Africa”.

The meeting was held in Kigali to take stock of agricultural development efforts in Central Africa's bread basket and chart a path towards food security.

Participants, therefore, called for doubling of food production to meet the expected population demand. However, experts maintain that high population growth explains why the relatively strong economic performance in sub-Saharan Africa since 1990, has failed to deliver the desired progress towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

It is estimated that the continent now has around 1.02 billion people with approximately 950 million living in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Projections indicate that going by the current rate, the population may rise to 1.8 billion by 2050. The experts believe that unless African countries apply various mechanisms like agricultural intensification to double food production, the continent will continue to suffer from food shortages.

Agriculture in Africa is faced with immense challenges of how to increase yields to feed a growing population in the face of climate change. During the Maputo Declaration of 2003, African leaders committed themselves to allocate 10 percent of their national budgets to the agricultural sector to ensure food security.

Recently, an Action Aid report ranked Rwanda third out of 28 developing countries most prepared to confront the three interlocking global challenges of climate change, resource scarcity and rising and volatile food prices.

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