Africa Climate Week: What we must do to alleviate food insecurity

Residents of Illeret village in Marsabit county carry humanitarian aid donated to them by Safaricom, at the area chief's camp. [David Njaaga, Standard]

As Africa's civil society organisations meet in Libreville, Gabon, on Africa Climate Week, the plight of such NGOs must be heard and supported by their stakeholders like the United Nations (UN) and governments by being in the frontline financially and offering technical support for such initiatives in so far as climate crisis is concerned. This process, however, is a precursor to the upcoming round of negotiations on climate change (COP27) in Egypt in November.

In the recent times we have been experiencing global warming, floods in Asian countries like China, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Burma and India and Africa, especially at the Horn of Africa and Madagascar. Kenya is among these countries in the region that are facing the most prolonged drought for the past three years. According to UN Office Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, across the Horn, at least 36.1 million people have been affected: 24.1 million in Ethiopia, 7.8 million in Somalia and 4.2 million in Kenya.

The drought has greatly affected northern and coastal regions of Kenya: Marsabit, Isiolo, Baringo, West Pokot, Samburu, Mandera, Wajir, Garissa, Kilifi, Tana River and Taita/Taveta. In Eastern Uganda at least 30 people died in August due to flash floods, with at least 6,000 being displaced from their homes.

Apart from perennial floods, droughts that have always devastated the northern regions of Uganda and Kenya, have caused substantial losses to economy, land and livelihoods. According to a study by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), increasing water levels are now changing the composition of lakes in the Great Lakes region: Lakes Victoria, Tanganyika, Kivu, Chad, Baringo, Nakuru and Turkwel Gorge Dam, where hydro- meteorological variables due to climate change have led to increased moisture availability as seen in rainfall data and discharge of the rivers feeding these water bodies. The rising water levels have destroyed social amenities, forcing many to use boat transport to access services across flooded areas.

Food insecurity has also been steadily worsening in Africa and other low-income countries. The share of people suffering from a lack of sufficient high-quality nutrition rose, but other global pandemics like Covid-19 was another disaster. The loss of Ukrainian wheat and maize because of the Russian invasion also triggered food insecurity in poor countries, including African nations.

Globally, wheat prices surged by more than 60 per cent, fuelling humanitarian concerns and warnings from international development agencies about increased food security in poor African and Asian countries - wheat is the second most important cereal globally after rice. In sub-Saharan Africa, maize is core while only minute consumption of bread is real. However, Russia's war in Ukraine has disrupted Africa's promising recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic by raising food and fuel prices, disrupting trade in goods and services, tightening the fiscal space, constraining green transitions and reducing the flow of development finance in the continent.

The UN World Food Programme (WEP) buys half of the wheat it distributes around the world from Ukraine. With the war, supplies are squeezed, and prices arise, including fuel, increasing the cost of transporting food into and out of the region. Research on the food situation in Cameroon, Kenya and Nigeria confirms that the rising food prices exacerbated the food security situation in many African countries, especially where there is no adequate social protection by their governments. What then is food insecurity?

United Nations defines it as "a lack of consistent access to food, which diminishes dietary quality, disrupts normal eating patterns and can have negative consequences for nutrition, health and well-being". In situations of severe food insecurity, people have a higher likelihood of running out of food and experiencing hunger, sometimes going days without eating.

In Cameroon, for instance, more than half of the population was food insecure before the war. The cost of imported food is driving the local food inflation, with bread and other staple foods increasingly out of reach for those with low incomes. In Kenya where nearly seven out of 10 people were food insecure before the Ukrainian war, only one out of 10 is covered by at least one form of social protection. In Africa, over a quarter of a billion more people could experience extreme poverty in this year because of Covid-19, rising global inequality and the shock of food price rises supercharged by the war in Ukraine.

In order to sustain these challenges, Africa must engage with policymakers, businesses, and civil society, including Africans in the Diaspora around the world. This relationship and corporation with developed world must be strengthened and built on state-to-state levels. This would ensure a speedy, inclusive and sustainable recovery across Africa. With partners incorporated, there are three areas to work into:

First, Africa must rethink the global finance architecture, enhance domestic resource mobilisation so that it can retain a greater share of the value of its strategic mineral, agricultural and human resource. Secondly, consistently invest in resilience - the need to "shock-proof" development and democracy. Africa and its development partners need to invest in a conducive climate, not risk to investing. There is a need to invest in food and fuel security, greater productive capacity, and higher value added manufacturing and exports.

Finally, prioritise structural transformation and regional integration. This could be how Africa would be more assertive about taking its rightful place in the world.

The writer is a lecturer at Moi University, Eldoret. [email protected]