How is FAO addressing food security issues in Africa?
A. Africa is the only continent in the world where per capita agricultural production has declined during the past 25 years. Furthermore, 43 African countries are low-income food-deficit countries (LIFDCs). That means that they do not produce enough food to feed their populations and do not have the resources to import the food required to fill the gap. However, their economies are largely dependent on the agricultural sector and most of their poor people are the rural poor who will continue to depend directly or indirectly on agriculture for their employment and their income. Africans have realized that they cannot have an effective agricultural policy as long as 92 per cent of the continent’s arable land continues to produce under rainfed conditions subjected to high occurrence of drought. In their countries, agricultural and food production in particular must increase and it must do so sustainably in order to increase food supply, generate income and thereby improve access to food b
