Governments could help end food insecurity - experts

Although the existing food insecurity in the region is attributed to climate change, regional agricultural scientists believe that governments could help bring an end to food deficit if they committed more resources. This was highlighted by several experts at the conclusion of a meeting by regional experts and other stakeholders where they discussed the state of agricultural development in Central Africa’s bread basket as well as food security. Some of the issues irking the agricultural specialists are the failure by governments to respect and implement the 10 percent of their national budgets to the agricultural sector as it was agreed by African leaders in the Maputo Declaration of 2003. According to participants in the conference, if the regional leaders had heeded the Maputo Declaration of 2003, the region would have been hunger free. Ferdinand Ngenzahayo, an agricultural researcher from Burundi, noted that his country is a signatory to the Maputo Declaration but it has, up to now, failed to fulfil its agreement as this has brought food shortage in various parts of the country, especially its Eastern and Northern Provinces. “Our government allocates 3.4% of the national budget towards agriculture, and due to inadequate resources in the sector, there is low productivity, and as a result, nationals are affected by insufficient food,” he noted in an interview. He observed that bananas and cereals are the most predominant crops in Burundi, but due to lack of political commitment, farmers are faced by challenges of accessing quality seeds, fertilizers and pesticides to enhance productivity. Recently, the East and Horn of African regions were reported to have been hit by the world’s worst food crisis disturbing countries like Kenya, Somalia, Ethiopia and Uganda. Kenyan agronomist, Martin Onyango, pointed out that his government allocates only 4.1% and population growth rate is high. He described the 4.1% as a small percentage that cannot accommodate Kenyans adding that if the government doesn’t raise more resources towards the sector, hunger will continue to exist. “Food Production is reducing; we lack enough resources to inject in agricultural research and climate change that hinders the production. On top of that, the population growth is increasing, therefore unless political will is accelerated, we shall not escape food shortage in the region,” he said. During the opening of the concluded meeting, experts were concerned that the growing population presents a major challenge in efforts to adequately feed the people on the continent calling for doubling of food production to meet the expected population demand. It is estimated that the continent now has around 1.02 billion people with approximately 950 million living in Sub-Saharan Africa and projections indicate that going by the current rate, the population may rise to 1.8 billion by 2050. According to statistics, Rwanda is the only country in the region that has scored beyond the agreed percentage of the Maputo Declaration with 10.1% national budgetary allocation, and according to officials, it’s expected to rise to 12% by the end this year. Dr Daphrosa Gahakwa, the deputy Director in charge of Research at Rwanda Agricultural Board, noted that the government had, since 2007, initiated a crop intensification programme (CIP) to increase production, noting that it had paid off by making the country the most food secure in the region. Sayi Bulili, a researcher from Tanzania, revealed that although their government was injecting 10% of their national budget, there was still more need for political commitment in addressing the issues of land degradation, and soil fertility, saying that the two factors were threatening food production. Ends