**2.1 State of food security in Africa**

To begin with, it is worth pointing out from the onset that food insecurity is a multidimensional problem. It is a problem that is linked to *healthcare*, *conflicts*, *policies*, *politics*, *leadership*, *strategic vision*, *trade and economic interests*, *agricultural production*, *food system*, *global food industry trade politics*, *and the environment* (*mother nature*). As an example, in the sphere of healthcare, one can see a direct link between food insecurity, malnutrition, and a global pandemic like the HIV/AIDS. That is to say, if a member of a given family, for instance, is affected by the AIDS epidemic, the family of that patient will automatically lose a breadwinner and financial income generator. That is, the person affected by the disease will no longer be able to engage in any remunerative physical activity whether for themselves or for a third party in order to earn a living. Consequently, he or she will financially no longer contribute to his or her family well-being since they will not be able to generate any income whatsoever. And if and when that situation were to occur, the family of the patient in question would begin to eat less. The body of the affected person will by then have become vulnerable and weak to engage in any remunerative activity. As a result, food insecurity will then have set in, and poverty trap will have taken over and affected everyone within that family.

At the time of writing this chapter, Africa's state of food insecurity relative to other regions of the world, except for West Asia, is troubling and non-promising. Hence, understanding and accepting this reality should be of a concern for all Africans regardless of their socioeconomic and political status. That is to say, this said reality should be of a concern for *the African political leadership*, *the mayors of mega African cities,*<sup>3</sup> *the NGOs*, *the civil society*, *the media*, *the farmers*, *the business community*, *the youth*, *the academia*, *the churches*, *the mosques and other faith-based organizations*, and the *consumer organizations* alike. And according to the FAO 2015 State of Food Insecurity in the World *IN BRIEF*, Africa scores poorly in all indicators regarding food security and nutrition targets. For example, in 2015, only 18 out of 54 African countries have reached the MDG 1C hunger target (Millennium Development Goals 1C).

Furthermore, two of the many reasons why food security keeps evading millions of Africans are the never-ending conflicts and incessant political instability on the continent. Often, in many sub-Saharan African countries, foods are available and

<sup>3</sup> Africa today has 10 cities with populations of 3 million or more. They are as follows: (1) Lagos, Nigeria, 9,000,000; (2) Kinshasa, DRC, 7,785,965; (3) Cairo, Egypt, 7734, 614; (4) Alexandria, Egypt, 3811, 516; (5) Abidjan, Ivory Coast, 3.677, 115; (6) Kano, Nigeria, 3626, 068; (7) Ibadan, Nigeria, 3,565,108; (8) Cape Town, South Africa, 3433, 441; (9) Casablanca, Morocco, 3,144,909; and (10) Durban, South Africa, 3, 120, 282. For further illustration, see [8].

plentiful but not accessible to everyone. Poor families, for example, disproportionately pay the brunt of conflicts and wars. Farmers cannot bring their staple crops to the markets because of the lack of security even if and when they wanted to do so. Put it simply, conflicts disrupt markets and affect development policies that are put in place to assist the neediest of the population. And as a consequence of conflicts and wars, food prices rise, and poor families and their children can no longer have access to healthy and balanced dietary foods (*utilization*). Conflicts make food production drop since no one will risk their lives to work in the fields and bring foods to the markets while killings are raging. In the Central African Republic, for instance, the short-lived war of 2013 and its aftermath caused a drastic reduction in food production (*availability*) and engendered the rise of food commodity prices (*accessibility*). In fact, poor families and anyone else who could not have access to the foods in the markets were simply forced to live in subsistence. Consequently, thousands of Central Africans became nutrition-challenged because whatever was available for them to eat was obviously not meeting their nutrition needs and targets. Furthermore, widespread insecurity across the entire country made it more difficult to import foods from the neighboring countries or even receive foods from aid donors and the international community (*stability*) for that matter. As a result, food insecurity, and in many instances, the lack of foods thereof, became the daily reality of untold Central African families. And additionally, this added existential threat exacerbated an already desperate and deteriorating economic condition caused by years of protracted conflicts and political and economic mismanagement [9].

World Bank, and to a certain extent the US Treasury Department promoting and owning the so-called *Washington Consensus*, should be held responsible for those failed policies. For, they were the ones that devised, concocted, and directed them. As a matter of fact, they actively promoted or better said imposed them upon weak and hopeless African governments. And in turn, hapless African leaders implemented the said policies without truly understanding their future potential consequences on the

So, with the benefit of hindsight today, one can say that those *structural adjustment programs* (SAPs) as they were known then, and devised by the above-cited international institutions and encouraged by the US Treasury Department, contributed to the demise of many farmers in Africa. They exacerbated the food insecurity and the existing precarious economic plights of millions of African families. And with the passing years, it has now become clear to any astute observer of the recent history of the social and economic development of Africa that African leaders of that time were not wise enough to reject and outrightly oppose those policies [9]. Actually, in fairness, many of them heartily and readily adopted the said policies and imposed them on their beleaguered poor populations. In fact, soon after they did so, many African countries began to import foods in huge quantity. And unfortunately, this situation has now lingered for decades. And honestly, as of today, there is no end in sight as to when the recurring food shortages and massive food imports in sub-Sahara Africa will either abate, subside, or end altogether. And for that, African countries constantly face food shortages now despite all the good and well-intentioned policies of the international community, the African Union, and African countries themselves intended to address rampant food insecurity, eradicate hunger, and bring food security to millions of lowincome African families. So, as a consequence of all that, sub-Saharan Africa today is heavily dependent on food imports than at any time in its history. And as a result of that, it is sadly subjecting millions of its populations to the mercy of foreigners, commodity speculators, foreign exchange fluctuations, food aid giving nations, and the geopolitics of global food trade [11]. In actuality, this is the state of Africa's food security today. And as a matter of fact, when one looks back at the genesis of this episode, one can say without a doubt that this unfortunate situation could have easily been avoided. That is to say, had the *African political leadership* shown true leadership, heavily invested in agricultural sector and adopted economic nationalist policies, the early food production crisis, and insecurity beginning in the early 1970s would have been dealt with more effectively. Indeed, past African governments could have substantially invested in food production, assisted the small farmers with more aid and subsidies, and created policy resilience that would have saved thousands of African lives and farmers. And this may have possibly transformed and modernized the entire African food production system. In short, had the political leaders displayed true political courage to undertake such policies as stated, and shown true care for their respective populations, the concerns about the potential socioeconomic catastrophe of the rapid population growth in Africa will not have been as alarming and challenging to us as they seem today. To say the least, Africa suffers from food insecurity today and has been suffering from it for so long simply because of the utter failure and lack of vision, political courage, and sound economic policies of the *African leaders* and *economic decision-makers* of all political and ideological stripes on the Continent.

**2.3 Impacts of rapid population growth and urbanization on the food security**

In 1990, Africa's population was 635 million people. And, in 2018, the population of Africa stood at 1.2 billion people (see **Figure 1** below). However, except for the oil exporting African countries (see **Table 1**), sub-Saharan Africa has, on average,

**in Africa**

**5**

farmers and their societies at large ([10], pp. 369–370).

*Understanding Africa's Food Security Challenges DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.91773*

### **2.2 Why is sub-Saharan Africa suffering from food insecurity?**

There are a lot of reasons as to why Africa and sub-Saharan Africa in particular is suffering from food insecurity and failing to meet its nutrition needs and targets. Though it is true that one cannot put their fingers at one specific reason as for why food shortages, insecurity, and prevalence of malnutrition uninterruptedly afflict sub-Saharan Africa, one can however identify a number of failed internal economic policy tools and international policy prescriptions as the culprit or underlying causes of systemic food insecurity in Africa. That is to say, on the internal front, for example, fewer among many reasons as for why food insecurity has been chronic in many African countries are the following: (1) *the never-ending political instability and crises*; (2) *the short or long protracted civil conflicts and wars*; (3) *the endemic*, *persistent*, *and institutional corruption*; (4) *the misdirected economic policies and mismanagement*; (5) *the lack of committed political leadership*; (6) *the sheer neglect towards the farmers*; and (7) *the lack of clear financial and economic investment into the agricultural sector*. On the external front, however, economic policy prescriptions mainly written and formulated by the World Bank (WB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in the 1970s, 1980s, and the latter part of the 1990s directed at the African countries made an already difficult economic situation worse. This is because the architects of the alluded policies advised sub-Saharan African governments and leaders to cut aid and slash subsidies to their farmers. The economic policy rationale was that African countries should pull the plug under their parastatals (government-owned enterprises) and let the markets take care of everything. In addition, respective African governments were told that Africa should privatize and liberalize their economic policies in order to align them with the prevailing international trade, investment, and economic principles. Those economic recipes were said to modernize Africa and speed up its incorporation into the liberal-based global market economy. Consequently, because of those policy prescriptions, African farmers lost income supports from their respective governments, and millions of low-income African families became victims of food insecurity and nutrition deficits. In essence, the IMF and the

#### *Understanding Africa's Food Security Challenges DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.91773*

World Bank, and to a certain extent the US Treasury Department promoting and owning the so-called *Washington Consensus*, should be held responsible for those failed policies. For, they were the ones that devised, concocted, and directed them. As a matter of fact, they actively promoted or better said imposed them upon weak and hopeless African governments. And in turn, hapless African leaders implemented the said policies without truly understanding their future potential consequences on the farmers and their societies at large ([10], pp. 369–370).

So, with the benefit of hindsight today, one can say that those *structural adjustment programs* (SAPs) as they were known then, and devised by the above-cited international institutions and encouraged by the US Treasury Department, contributed to the demise of many farmers in Africa. They exacerbated the food insecurity and the existing precarious economic plights of millions of African families. And with the passing years, it has now become clear to any astute observer of the recent history of the social and economic development of Africa that African leaders of that time were not wise enough to reject and outrightly oppose those policies [9]. Actually, in fairness, many of them heartily and readily adopted the said policies and imposed them on their beleaguered poor populations. In fact, soon after they did so, many African countries began to import foods in huge quantity. And unfortunately, this situation has now lingered for decades. And honestly, as of today, there is no end in sight as to when the recurring food shortages and massive food imports in sub-Sahara Africa will either abate, subside, or end altogether. And for that, African countries constantly face food shortages now despite all the good and well-intentioned policies of the international community, the African Union, and African countries themselves intended to address rampant food insecurity, eradicate hunger, and bring food security to millions of lowincome African families. So, as a consequence of all that, sub-Saharan Africa today is heavily dependent on food imports than at any time in its history. And as a result of that, it is sadly subjecting millions of its populations to the mercy of foreigners, commodity speculators, foreign exchange fluctuations, food aid giving nations, and the geopolitics of global food trade [11]. In actuality, this is the state of Africa's food security today. And as a matter of fact, when one looks back at the genesis of this episode, one can say without a doubt that this unfortunate situation could have easily been avoided. That is to say, had the *African political leadership* shown true leadership, heavily invested in agricultural sector and adopted economic nationalist policies, the early food production crisis, and insecurity beginning in the early 1970s would have been dealt with more effectively. Indeed, past African governments could have substantially invested in food production, assisted the small farmers with more aid and subsidies, and created policy resilience that would have saved thousands of African lives and farmers. And this may have possibly transformed and modernized the entire African food production system. In short, had the political leaders displayed true political courage to undertake such policies as stated, and shown true care for their respective populations, the concerns about the potential socioeconomic catastrophe of the rapid population growth in Africa will not have been as alarming and challenging to us as they seem today. To say the least, Africa suffers from food insecurity today and has been suffering from it for so long simply because of the utter failure and lack of vision, political courage, and sound economic policies of the *African leaders* and *economic decision-makers* of all political and ideological stripes on the Continent.

#### **2.3 Impacts of rapid population growth and urbanization on the food security in Africa**

In 1990, Africa's population was 635 million people. And, in 2018, the population of Africa stood at 1.2 billion people (see **Figure 1** below). However, except for the oil exporting African countries (see **Table 1**), sub-Saharan Africa has, on average,

grown a meager 1.1% GDP in the last quarter century [15]. Now, considering Africa's demographic explosion in the last two decades, this underperforming GDP per capita growth is not sustainable for its long-term economic transformation. And clearly it will not help it either to meet the needs of millions of its young people that are reaching working age and expected to enter the labor market [16] in great numbers every year till the year 2030. This somber forecast is in addition to the fact that Africa's population is projected to double by 2050 (see **Figure 2** and New African March 2019 Guest Commentary by Peter Estlin, the Lord Mayor of London). Therefore, these serious challenges and threats are to be factored into any discussion about Africa's long-term economic transformation. That is to say, every social, political, and economic actor in Africa should seriously ponder upon them and properly address these threats and challenges. As the youngest continent, Africa has tremendous challenges ahead of it. At the same time, it also has great opportunity to unlock its economic potential that will benefit hundreds of millions of its peoples. However, this can only be done if *African political leadership and economic decision-makers* unselfishly invest into the youth and give it access to quality health and education and skills of the twenty-first century. And assuming that that warning is heeded, a vibrant, healthy, and educated young population will undoubtedly take upon itself to resolve the issues of food insecurity and nutrition

deficits, among many other challenges. As a matter of fact, a great number of economic experts and development economists agree with this economic proposition. They claim that quality health and education are the only engines of economic development that will help unleash the African potential, create inclusive prosperity for all, and economically transform the continent. (For further comments on the subject, see New African March 2019 Guest Commentary by Bill and Melinda

in line with their burgeoning population growths.

**2.4 Impacts of climate change threats and effects on food security in Africa**

Climate change debates pit true believers of climate change against those that oppose it. They also confront those who are skeptical of its existence or outwardly deny it against those who are fervent believers in it. However, the debates about whether climate change exists or not are beyond the intended purpose of this chapter. In it, we base our analysis on the existence of the climate change threats and its

Furthermore, *Africa's political leadership*, *youth*, and *civil society* shall all understand that without some sort of family planning, albeit a voluntary one, the rapid unplanned population growth will never make Africa be food and nutrition secure. Therefore, understanding this reality, and taking also into account the cultural and religious sensitivities of several African communities, *Africa's political leadership*, *and faithbased organizations* of all denominations, should not have any problems investing in women, youth, and young girls. That is to say, in doing so, they will be able to properly educate mothers and future mothers and common people about the consequences of food insecurity and nutrition deficits on the future of their well-being and for Africa as a whole. That's because an uncontrolled rapid population growth, alongside the climate change threats and its effects, will be a formidable challenge for Africa to overcome if African people are not implicated in seeking solutions for their problems and challenges themselves. In our view, not adopting this policy approach will render the search for Africa's meaningful economic transformation unattainable just as many other unfulfilled African economic dreams (beginning since the years of its political independence in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s). The said contemplated family planning could also be managed through community programs, school programs, and after church and mosque services programs. And by devising such social program plans, educating people in major cities and the rural areas to understand what is truly at stake, and encouraging them to participate into the programs, it will be safe to say that Africans will take upon themselves the transformation of their agricultural production and adopt policies that will help them achieve food security on their own. And as such, they will be able to meet their nutrition needs and targets

Gates).

**7**

**Figure 2.**

*Africa's population forecast 2020–2050 (Source: [12]).*

*Understanding Africa's Food Security Challenges DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.91773*


#### **Figure 1.**

*Evolution of Africa's population 1960–2019 (Source: [12]).*


**Table 1.**

*Top 12 Africa's crude oil-exporting countries in 2018 (Source: [13, 14]).*

*Understanding Africa's Food Security Challenges DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.91773*


#### **Figure 2.**

*Africa's population forecast 2020–2050 (Source: [12]).*

deficits, among many other challenges. As a matter of fact, a great number of economic experts and development economists agree with this economic proposition. They claim that quality health and education are the only engines of economic development that will help unleash the African potential, create inclusive prosperity for all, and economically transform the continent. (For further comments on the subject, see New African March 2019 Guest Commentary by Bill and Melinda Gates).

Furthermore, *Africa's political leadership*, *youth*, and *civil society* shall all understand that without some sort of family planning, albeit a voluntary one, the rapid unplanned population growth will never make Africa be food and nutrition secure. Therefore, understanding this reality, and taking also into account the cultural and religious sensitivities of several African communities, *Africa's political leadership*, *and faithbased organizations* of all denominations, should not have any problems investing in women, youth, and young girls. That is to say, in doing so, they will be able to properly educate mothers and future mothers and common people about the consequences of food insecurity and nutrition deficits on the future of their well-being and for Africa as a whole. That's because an uncontrolled rapid population growth, alongside the climate change threats and its effects, will be a formidable challenge for Africa to overcome if African people are not implicated in seeking solutions for their problems and challenges themselves. In our view, not adopting this policy approach will render the search for Africa's meaningful economic transformation unattainable just as many other unfulfilled African economic dreams (beginning since the years of its political independence in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s). The said contemplated family planning could also be managed through community programs, school programs, and after church and mosque services programs. And by devising such social program plans, educating people in major cities and the rural areas to understand what is truly at stake, and encouraging them to participate into the programs, it will be safe to say that Africans will take upon themselves the transformation of their agricultural production and adopt policies that will help them achieve food security on their own. And as such, they will be able to meet their nutrition needs and targets in line with their burgeoning population growths.

#### **2.4 Impacts of climate change threats and effects on food security in Africa**

Climate change debates pit true believers of climate change against those that oppose it. They also confront those who are skeptical of its existence or outwardly deny it against those who are fervent believers in it. However, the debates about whether climate change exists or not are beyond the intended purpose of this chapter. In it, we base our analysis on the existence of the climate change threats and its

effects as an added challenge to Africa's existing agriculture commodities' production, food security, and nutrition needs and targets. In fact, as of today, changes in rainfall, soil quality, weather patterns, and precipitations in many regions of Africa have become the drivers for the food challenges and insecurity in all regions of the continent. And as a result of all that, climate change threats, effects, and stress are now the multiplier for the multitude of the daily challenges that Africans face. Furthermore, it is worth recalling that many countries in the world recognize today that climate change impacts on the temperature, precipitation, and droughts on a given community adversely affect the food security of that community. And consequently, many members of the said affected community are forced to leave and migrate to other communities. That is so because adverse or abrupt climate conditions and threats stress an entire community. And more often than not, they push their younger members to mass migrate. In addition, negative effects of the climate change event like floods and droughts destroy the agricultural production capacity and inputs of the impacted community. So, as an example, communities that have experienced events like droughts and floods whether in the *Sahel*, the *Lake Chad Basin*, or *East African region* [17] have all seen themselves abandoning their homes and villages and moving to neighboring communities or urban cities where they have no adequate resources to help themselves cope with their new surroundings and adapt to their new-found challenges. Many members of the said displaced communities become victims of food insecurity themselves. That is because by abandoning their villages and towns and moving to the new ones, they compete for scarce resources such as water and other daily living amenities in order to survive. Moreover, their sheer presence in their new hometowns or cities swells the pockets of the already established urban poor and makes life more miserable for themselves and everyone else. In short, climate change impacts and its effects have become existential threats to vulnerable communities. And one of the visible effects of climate change today is that climate change impacts turn members of the climate-impacted communities into *climate refugees* within their new adopted communities.

lack of quality health and education are the direct results of the said never-ending challenges that Africa as a whole confronts ever since it gained its *political indepen-*

*and HIV/AIDS*, *and maritime piracy* consume and divert their meager state

For further illustration of how many African countries are afflicted and

*conflicts*, *crises*, *and political unrests* and **Table 2**.

become victims of food and nutrition insecurity.

**9**

resources away. Because of all that, their depleted resources are never sufficient to help them successfully fight institutional corruptions, rein into drug trafficking, curb hunger and other social woes, and effectively run their day-to-day administrative affairs. And as a result of the said overwhelming challenges, food insecurity and nutrition challenges currently affect and threaten the lives of millions of South Sudanese, Central Africans, Somali, Nigerians, and million more Africans today.

overwhelmed by conflicts and protracted crises, and why food security challenges have become existential threats not just to one or two countries in Africa, see *Cases of countries affected by food insecurity and acute malnutrition stemming from protracted*

**2.6 Cases of countries affected by food insecurity and acute malnutrition stemming from protracted conflicts, crises, and political unrests**

1.**Nigeria.** This country has been grappling with severe security threats from Boko Haram and ISIS West Africa (ISIS-WA). Consequently, these threats have caused massive internal displacement of the population in the northeast region of the country and made thousands of Nigerians domestic refugees. In addition to the displaced Nigerian citizens, thousands more refugees from Niger, Cameroon, Chad, and the Central African Republic have flocked into the region, and consequently swelled the overrun refugee camps and made matters worse for everyone involved in the camps. As a result, they all have

2.**South Sudan.** Due to the clashes between the South Sudanese Government and armed opposition groups, millions of South Sudanese have become the largest displaced population in their own country and been made refugees in the neighboring countries. As a consequence, this situation has created a severe case of food insecurity and malnutrition challenges in South Sudan today.

3.**Somalia.** This country is another case in Africa where protracted conflicts since 1991 have made it impossible for the Somali population at large to escape

In effect, the persistent lack of peace and security in many sub-Saharan African countries today, coupled with the never-ending political instabilities and crises, is mainly the underlying reasons why African countries seem incapable of tackling and overcoming existential challenges and threats such as food shortages and insecurity and widespread malnutrition on their own. As a case in point, since 2010, a number of *civil wars and political crises* have broken out in several African countries from Algeria all the way to Kenya. In addition, newer political instabilities and short-lived c*ivil wars* have also occurred or unfolded in places like the Lake Chad Basin, Nigeria (Boko Haram), Libya (the bloody ousting of Muammar Kaddafi and the ensuing civil war), Egypt, Tunisia, the Central African Republic (CAR), Kenya, Cameroon, Mali, Burkina Faso, Burundi, South Sudan, Algeria, and Sudan as of late [20]. Moreover, countries such the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Sudan, and Somalia where decades-long conflicts have weakened and rendered their respective governments inept and unable to assume the administration of their territorial security and come up with sound national economic management policies, transnational threats such as *terrorism*, *mass migration*, *pandemics such as Ebola*

*dence* from the former colonial powers.

*Understanding Africa's Food Security Challenges DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.91773*
