By Xoliswa Zulu
The number of hungry children in Africa will increase by 3,3 million by 2025 if current policy and investment trends continue, says a new report by the International Food Policy Research Institute.
Child malnutrition is on the rise in Africa and, by 2025, hunger could be a daily reality for nearly 42 million children, according to Joachim von Braun, director-general of the institute.
The report, called "Looking Ahead: Long Term Prospects for Africa's Agricultural Development and Food Security", says that child malnutrition in Africa will escalate in the next two decades and the continent will fail to meet the millennium development goal of cutting child malnutrition in half by 2015, unless more aggressive measures are taken.
"With significant changes in policy and investment priorities starting now, Africa could sharply reduce child malnutrition and come close to achieving the millennium development goal on time," Von Braun said.
"If current trends continue, child malnutrition in Africa is expected to grow from 38,6 million to 41,9 million victims by 2025. Sub-Saharan Africa, particularly Burkina Faso, Niger, Somalia and Sudan, will account for the sharpest increase, but west and north Africa will actually see a decline to 2,3 million hungry children."
Poor governance, inadequate infrastructure, limited access to markets and low investment in agriculture contributed to the underperformance of Africa's agricultural sector, said the report.
Sound policies and increased investment targeted to these areas could strengthen food security and reduce child malnutrition significantly across the continent.
The report added that the status of women could influence food security and nutrition, as women provided 70 to 80 percent of household food production in sub-Saharan Africa.
Although farm plots run by women have been found to have 20 to 40 percent lower yields than those run by men, it has been shown that when women receive the same levels of education, experience and farm inputs as men, they can increase the yields of some crops by 22 percent.
Von Braun added: "Investments in rural roads and information and communication technologies, such as telephones and the Internet, can lead to more efficient markets and improve farmers' productivity."