**1. Introduction**

#### **1.1 Africa since the end of the cold war**

Since the end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republic (USSR) in 1991, Africa as a region has undergone a major structural transformation in social, political, demographic, and economic spheres. In political sphere, the region has gone from a one-party state governance to a multiparty democratic system ([1], p. 300). In social sphere, social governance is slowly but steadily being shared by the rising civil society and the NGOs that have now become copartners at addressing and debating social, economic, and political challenges in Africa. In demographic sphere, the region has seen a twofold increase in its population growth in the last quarter century. And finally, as regards to the economic sphere, whether voluntarily or involuntarily, since the 1990s, Africa has

become a full participant in the economic and commercial globalization spurred by the West and led by the United States. And because of the abovementioned structural transformation of the continent, the region has nonetheless grown economically and registered stellar economic numbers in the last decades or so. That is, through the decade of the 2000s to the year 2013, for instance, the global boom in commodity prices propelled natural resources and oil- and gas-exporting African countries to register incredible economic growth and empower Africa into the twenty-first-century global economy [2]. As a result, Africa as a region is now a full member of the world economy and a coveted actor in the international economic arena.

meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life [6]."

2. Individuals have adequate incomes or other resources to purchase or barter for

4. Individuals have sound knowledge of nutrition and child care that they put to good use and have access to adequate health and sanitation services [7].

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

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

1.Sufficient quantities of appropriate foods are consistently available.

Nonetheless, achieving food security however requires that:

have taken over and affected everyone within that family.

Africa, 3, 120, 282. For further illustration, see [8].

**3**

3.Food is properly processed and stored.

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

**2.1 State of food security in Africa**

food.

However, despite the impressive recorded economic growth mainly by the energy and commodity-exporting African countries as stated above, as a region, Africa is still facing serious local and transnational challenges such as *youth unemployment*, *climate change threats*, *rapid population growth*, *undernourishment*, *domestic terrorism*, *drug trafficking*, *maritime piracy*, *protracted political crises and low-intensity short-lived wars*, and *conflict-induced famines* like the one we are witnessing in South Sudan today. Consequently, those challenges stand in the way against Africa's pursuit to achieve food security and eradicate hunger.1 Therefore, if these abovecited challenges are not properly addressed and seriously tackled by the *African political leadership*, it is probably fair to say that achieving food security and meeting nutrition needs and targets as established by the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) (2000–2015) and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) (2015– 2030) will simply be another elusive quest for Africa among many other policy objectives and goals. In addition, if that happens to be so, the continent will unfortunately continue to languish behind other regions of the world in socioeconomic and human developments.<sup>2</sup> And consequently, it will be nowhere near attaining the SDG goals and targets just as it failed to meet the past MDG goals and targets. As a case in point, despite its modest registered economic growth and well-intentioned international policy initiatives such as the cited MDGs and SDGs aimed at fighting hunger and overcoming nutrition deficits [4] among many other human and development policy objectives, only few African countries managed to meet the MDGs 1c [5]. With that being said, this chapter sets out to present the state of Africa's food insecurity and nutrition deficits and addresses the potential impacts of the abovecited challenges, widely regarded today as the real barriers against successful eradication of food hunger and achieving food security in sub-Saharan Africa.

## **2. Defining food security**

In this chapter, we use the definition of food security as stated by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (UNFAO). The FAO's definition is our guiding principle and upon which our analysis of Africa's food security challenges is based. The FAO defines food security as "When all people, at all times, have physical, social and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that

<sup>1</sup> Ibid.

<sup>2</sup> See [3]. It is shown in it that out of 189 countries, only Algeria and Tunisia ranked in the top 100. Whereas, the last 10 bottom countries in the ranking were all Africans. They are as follows: 180 Mozambique, 181 Liberia, 182 Mali, 183 Burkina Faso, 184 Sierra Leone, 185 Burundi, 186 Chad, 187 South Sudan, 188 the Central African Republic, and 189 Niger.

meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life [6]." Nonetheless, achieving food security however requires that:

