Helping Africa to Feed Itself: Promoting Agriculture to Reduce Poverty and Hunger

Steve Wiggins is an agricultural economist and Henri Leturque is a biologist and rural development specialist, respectively research fellow and research officer at the Overseas Development Institute, London. Both have lived and worked in Africa. About the report This report is based upon the published literature, complemented by canvassing the opinions, through telephone and interview, of a cross-section of development practitioners and researchers, listed at Annex A. Where not otherwise stated, the quotes in this report come from these interviews. Quotes from colleagues in the Futures Agricultures Consortium have been taken from short statements made in Nairobi, February 2009. The authors would like to thank all those who took the time to share their ideas and expertise with the authors. It is only a pity that space does not allow more quotations from those who were consulted. Disclaimer This report represents the independent analyis of the authors. The views expressed within are not necessarily those of the Friends of Europe, of the persons consulted in producing this report, or of Futures Agricultures Consortium or the Overseas Development Institute. Summary Understandable concern exists over the state of hunger in Africa: almost one third of the population are estimated to be hungry, while more than a quarter of infants are underweight in the countries to the south of the Sahara. Moreover, parts of Africa are all too often hit by sharp increases in hunger when harvests fail or strife breaks out. Can Africa feed itself? And what needs to be done? This report reviews the evidence and opinions drawing on available statistics, the considerable literature and interviews by telephone and email with key informants. The review looks at the record on food security, problems and successes of agriculture to date, future challenges, and points of agreement and contention. The key points arising from this review are as follows: • Africa suffers badly from hunger: south of the Sahara, FAO estimates that almost one in three is undernour-ished, 265M people in all, while more than a quarter (28%) of children of less than five years are underweight. • Agricultural production in Africa has increased only slowly over the last forty years: expressed per person, production has barely increased at all during this time. • It would be easy to imagine that the lack of food production has led to hunger, but that would simplify. The association is less direct than may be imagined. …