Food security in Africa takes centre stage at PAP Session

President of PAP, Hon. Roger Nkodo DANG

Food security and nutrition must be prioritised by governments and regional blocs across the continent.

This was the resounding message made by MPs putting emphasis on how the two are essential for the socio-economic wellbeing of citizens across Africa, during a plenary session on Tuesday 31, October 2018, in Kigali, Rwanda.

Hon. Zwelivelile MANDELA, Member of the PAP Committee on Rural Economy, Agriculture, Natural Resources and Environment reminded members of the continent’s past commitments to food security.

“The Pan African Parliament in May 2018 adopted a resolution on Nutrition and Food Systems during the sixth ordinary session,” he said adding that; “in June 2014, heads of state and government of the African Union adopted the Malabo Declaration on accelerated agricultural growth and Transformation for shared prosperity and improved livelihoods whose implementation strategy and roadmap require similar commitments for the targets to be fully realised.”

During the Malabo Declaration, African leaders committed to reduce stunting to below 10 percent in Africa, as well as to reduce underweight in children aged below five years to well below 5 percent by 2025.

Ms. Bibi GIYOSE, Senior Officer of Nutrition and Food Systems and Advisor to the CEO of NEPAD, told the plenary that majority of African countries are parties to the international conventions relating to food security and nutrition, and therefore must ensure the right to adequate food for their population and implement food security policies in their constitutions.

Several parliamentarians who spoke at the plenary re-echoed their commitments to advancing food security policies in their respective countries and requested for more support to the Pan African Parliamentary Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition, which was established in October 2016.

Members also said that there is need to address the structural challenges in Africa that cause hunger and famine by creating an enabling environment for special programs on food security for communities, especially those that are adversely hit with famine.

President of PAP, Hon. Roger Nkodo DANG, said that “Developing a model law on food security and nutrition would make a significant normative contribution to the cause and would complement other African Union and regional efforts to promote food security and nutrition.”

Earlier in May 2018, PAP recommended that the Committee on Rural Economy, Agriculture, Natural Resources and Environment initiates a process towards the development of a model law on food and nutrition in Africa.

(PAP Media Office)