MILLIONS FACE HUNGER IN THE EAC THIS YEAR

 

Millions of people are at risk of starvation in the East African Community (EAC) this year due to a combination of factors being natural calamities, conflicts and low investment in agriculture.

Conflict-torn Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is leading the pack with about 25 million facing food scarcity, a report has shown.

South Sudan, which has not  fully recovered from years of civil war, has its 7.7 million  people at risk  of not having enough food.

The alarming statistics on the looming food crisis in the region were made public in Arusha early this week during a discussion on food security.

The discussion, organized for the regional lawmakers, was organized by the Eastern and Southern Africa Small Scale Farmers' Forum (ESAFF).

Emmanuel Justine, a programme officer with the Morogoro-based organization, said the situation was equally alarming in Kenya.

The region's largest economy has been subjected to a severe drought that has severely impacted the livelihood of thousands of people.

Millions of livestock in its northern and northeastern regions have perished due to severe drought extending to the Horn of Africa.

According to Mr. Justine, Kenya is the third country among the seven members of the EAC much threatened by a food crisis this year.

Statistics by the Global Food and Nutrition Dashboard indicate that 5.43 million of Kenyans would be at risk of food insecurity during 2023.

Uganda would have 2.5 million people at risk, mostly in its harsh terrain on the northeastern region bordering Kenya and South Sudan.

Tanzania would largely be relieved of a  severe food crisis, thanks to the late rains that salvaged agriculture in the northern and central regions.

The report indicated that only 1.1 million Tanzanians would be severely impacted by food shortage out of the country's 61 million.

The report made no mention of Rwanda which has lately been credited by the development partners for agricultural transformation

Food crisis in the DR Congo is largely attributed to instability on its eastern part which has been a theatre of war between a litany of armed groups.

ESAFF, though acknowledging the severity of natural calamities to hit the region,partly attributed food scarcity in the EAC to low investment in agriculture.

Mr. Justine told members of the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) that some countries had not taken agricultural investment seriously.

He said agriculture has 11 percent more capacity to alleviate poverty than other economic sectors, including oil and gas, minerals and services.

Significant investment in agriculture was also the best weapon to fight the long term effects of malnutrition, thus enhancing the health of people.

 He called on the Community to operationalize the EAC Regional Agricultural Investment Plan which he said has been on the cards for sometime.

The regional intergovernmental body should as well embrace agro-ecology which experts believe has the potential to sustain agriculture in the long term.

Currently, agriculture contributes over 36 percent of the national incomes in the  EAC countries but  the agricultural budget has been falling.

During the day-long discussion at the EAC headquarters,ESAFF reiterated its call for the creation of the EAC Agriculture and Food Security Commission.

The proposed institution would go a long way in provision of timely and coordinated information  on agriculture and food security in an institutionalized way.

Established 20 years ago, ESAFF is a network

of small scale farmers. It has 2.4 million members working in 16 countries in eastern and southern Africa.