Ghana’s Speaker of Parliament Alban Bagbin, has urged African leaders to work together with a common goal in order to end poverty, achieve food security and an agriculture-led growth of the continent.
Alban Bagbin moved this motion at the 18th Commonwealth Speakers and Presiding Officers’ Conference (CSPOC) in Yaoundé, Cameroon on the topic “Addressing the Challenges of Food Security in Africa by Promoting Investments in Agriculture” under the African Parliaments and Agenda 2063.
At the conference, the speaker said the Sustainable Development Goals, especially Goal Two (SDG 2) seek to end hunger in all its forms, achieve food security, improve nutrition, and promote sustainable agricultural production by the year 2030.
In its 8th year of implementation, the magnitude of the current global hunger and malnutrition crisis is a clear indication that not much has been achieved.
According to the World Food Programme, this year, more than 345 million people are facing high levels of food insecurity.
This indicates a rise of about 200 million people compared to pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels.
It is believed that if current trends continue, the zero hunger target will be largely missed by the year, 2030.
He mentioned that countries in Africa are among the most affected, with threats of famine and extreme levels of malnutrition in some affected populations in Countries such as Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Somalia and South Sudan. “Indeed, conflicts in sections of the population in these countries have had an impact on food security mainly through disruption of agricultural production and farmers’ investment indecision”, he said.
He added that climate change impacts such as extreme weather events, loss of biodiversity, and degradation of natural resources including water scarcity are jeopardizing food security and nutrition, leading to forced migration.
The global economic shocks have also contributed to food insecurity and compounded pre-existing economic vulnerabilities.
For example, the socioeconomic impacts of COVID-19 and the repercussions of Russia Ukraine war have led to an increase in global food prices and price volatilizes.
According to the 2023 Global Report on Food Crises, between January 2023 and April 2023, 4 of the 10 countries with the highest food price inflation, in nominal terms, were in Africa: these are Zimbabwe, Egypt, Rwanda and Ghana.
As a result, many countries including some African countries are actively using trade policy to respond to domestic needs in the face of potential food shortages, especially at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Countries such as Algeria, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Morocco, and Tunisia banned exports of major food commodities while Uganda imposed taxes on exports as a way of dealing with the situation. Unfortunately, these trade measures are major sources of risk for global food price stability.
This calls for urgent action to provide workable policy options or interventions to pull people from the brink of hunger, which has been projected to worsen from now to November, 2023.
African leaders are aware of the importance of agriculture in contributing to food and nutrition security, poverty reduction and overall economic growth.
It is in this light that the African Union (AU) member states reaffirmed their commitments under the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme by adopting the Malabo Declaration on Accelerated Agricultural Growth and Transformation for Shared Prosperity and Improved Livelihoods at the African Union Summit in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, in June 2014.
This was a remarkable set of concrete agriculture goals to be attained by the year 2025, signifying the First Ten-Year Implementation Plan of Africa’s Agenda 2063.
“For Africa to achieve food security, proper implementation of these agricultural investment commitments are important. To achieve agriculture-led growth, halve hunger and end poverty, boost intra-African trade in agricultural goods and services, and enhance resilience to climate variability. Africa must harmonize trade policies, create a common market, currency and a Continental Free Trade Area“, Speaker Bagbin emphasized.
He further noted that, as representatives of the people, parliamentarians have a major role to play in legislation, advocacy, budgeting, scrutiny and oversight.
