The need to address Africa’s mounting challenges – rising food and nutrition insecurity amidst the backdrop of climate change, conflict, economic shocks, and persistent poverty and inequality – has never been more urgent.

The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2023 reports that 38 percent (282 million people) of the nearly 800 million people affected by hunger globally live in Africa. Undernourishment in Africa remains higher than all other regions in the world and has been rising since 2005. The number of people who go to bed hungry has increased from 178 million in 2005 to 281 million in 2022, equivalent to 19.7% of the continent’s population. Women and adolescent girls remain the most vulnerable as UNICEF reports that 68 percent of underweight adolescent girls and women live in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. Additionally, in the same regions, anaemia affects 60 percent of adolescent girls and women. This year offers several pivotal opportunities to address these compounding challenges, including the Post-Malabo Agenda Development Process Roadmap, the Brazil G20 Presidency which forefronts the Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty, the global financial architecture reform efforts, and the forthcoming 21st replenishment of the World Bank’s International Development Association (IDA). These opportunities must address the underlying challenges to food and nutrition access on the continent.

Addressing Africa’s food and nutrition crisis must prioritize support and financing for smallholders that possess indigenous and nature-based knowledge but remain the most vulnerable to climate variation, economic shocks, and rising levels of poverty and conflict. Smallholders, especially women, struggle to access direct financing necessary to ensure their resilience. This affects their livelihoods and ability to produce enough food, engage in trade, undermines their own food and nutrition security, and that of their children, ultimately perpetuating a cycle of poverty, malnutrition, and vulnerability. It is also critical to better prepare for food security and nutrition crises and ensure the integration of links between country, regional, and global levels on this agenda, particularly as part of collective efforts to support Food Security Crisis Preparedness Plans (FSCPP) which seek to identify, respond to, and mitigate major food and nutrition crises within a country.

Trade policies also overlook the needs of smallholders, impacting their ability to competitively access markets and trade effectively. This disconnect between trade, agriculture, and financing policies is exacerbated by the failure to consider smallholder farmers' priorities. Weak and fragmented approaches to policy implementation hinders translation of strategies into tangible outcomes for smallholders.

Africa must address systemic barriers and confront gender inequality in agriculture value chains which reinforce multifaceted challenges for women and girls. African women and girls are disproportionately impacted by food and nutrition insecurity despite constituting the majority of smallholders on the continent. The injustice has been aggravated by the COVID pandemic and the climate crisis, as shown by recent studies. Limited access to credit and financing, unfavourable land rights, a disproportionate role in caregiving, and gender-based violence, impede women’s ability to realize the economic value of their labour in agriculture. Such gender inequalities have resulted in a 24 percent productivity gap, a 4.3 percent food insecurity gap and an 18.4 percent pay gap between female and male farmers. Women's unequal access to resources and opportunities also undermines their capacity to ensure food and nutrition security for themselves and their families, restricts their adaptive capacity and resilience to climate shocks, and exacerbates inequality and poverty among African women. Notably, the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) policy framework does not  include gender specific indicators or recommend tracking gender disaggregated data. Therefore, governments do not submit gender disaggregated data, leaving women underserved and marginalized. There is an opportunity in the post-Malabo process to address this.

Addressing Africa’s challenges requires targeted interventions that prevent food and malnutrition crises, improve nutrition outcomes, and prioritize the needs of small-scale farmers. CAADP and several financing mechanisms, including the African Development Bank, the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)[1], the World Bank [2], and the Global Agriculture and Food Security Program (GAFSP)[3] provide critical support for agricultural development in Africa. Governments, development partners, civil society and farmer-based organisations must work towards scaling up proven approaches and revisiting conditions and guarantees for accessing finance to accommodate specific contexts of small-holder farmers, ensuring timely access to inputs, and supporting research tailored to their needs. Addressing global food and nutrition security has been designated as a priority through the Global Challenge Program within the framework of the World Bank’s Evolution Road Map. Furthermore, the ongoing implementation of the Inclusive Green Financing (IGREENFIN) financial mechanism specifically targets farmers' cooperatives and organizations to address climate-related challenges. These initiatives must prioritize smallholders, particularly to access climate financing, which can be challenging for farmers.

Recognising and bridging the gender gap in accessing finance is also crucial to promoting women's economic empowerment and advancing food security and nutrition outcomes in Africa. This must include increasing support for gender-responsive nutrition initiatives and increase public spending towards initiatives such as school feeding programs, as well as social protection. In addition, policies and initiatives should ensure equal access to financial services for women, and more participation in decision-making processes. It is also imperative to integrate gender equality into the reform of the global financial architecture, ensuring that local and international finance initiatives, including IDA, progressively address gender inequalities, and at the very least, do not regress on existing progress.

Finally, advocacy is critical. Civil society plays a key role in holding governments and institutions accountable, advocating for inclusive policies, and amplifying the voices of those affected by food insecurity and malnutrition. By engaging stakeholders at all levels, we can foster meaningful dialogue, drive policy change and build momentum for collective action.

 

[1] IFAD reports on its funding allocations and projects aimed at supporting smallholder farmers and rural development - https://webapps.ifad.org/members/eb/139/docs/EB-2023-139-R-14.pdf

[2] https://ieg.worldbankgroup.org/evaluations/toward-productive-inclusive-and-sustainable-farms-and-agribusiness-firms/chapter-3-0

[3] https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2023/03/20/global-agriculture-and-food-security-program-provides-new-funding-for-countries-to-strengthen-the-resilience-of-smallhol#:~:text=WASHINGTON%2C%20March%2020%2C%202023%20%E2%80%93,poverty%20in%20low%2Dincome%20countries.

Authors: 

  • Hon. Neema Lugangira (MP) is a Member of Parliament in Tanzania, and Board Member of the Parliamentary Network on the World Bank & International Monetary Fund 
  • Sessi Rostaing Akoha is an agricultural economist, and a MEAL expert at the West Africa Network of Peasant Farmers and Agricultural Producers (ROPPA).