Rwanda forum aims to battle African food insecurity

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00:00Meanwhile, the United States announced an additional $14 billion to combat food insecurity

00:05on the continent at a time when malnutrition and famine are on the rise.

00:10Thousands of experts are also looking at solutions to this crisis in Rwanda at the biggest African

00:15forum on agriculture.

00:17Clément Déromain has more.

00:20African agriculture specialists gathered in Kigali to learn from recent crises and find

00:25solutions.

00:26Almost 10 years ago, African Union member states signed the Malabo Declaration, aimed

00:31at reducing poverty and improving access to food by 2025.

00:35Around 50 countries committed to various objectives, including dedicating 10% of their budget to

00:41agriculture.

00:42However, this goal remains far from being achieved.

00:44According to the UN, this year at least 55 million people in West and Central Africa

00:49struggled to feed themselves.

00:51What we're seeing overall is that malnutrition rates are increasing exponentially.

00:57There's been some progress in the area of improving breastfeeding, but all the other

01:03nutrition indicators were behind.

01:06So we need a seismic shift, some new creativity, some innovation.

01:11The causes of malnutrition and famine include conflicts, like in Sudan, as well as climate

01:15change and rising food and fertilizer prices.

01:18In 2023, the DR Congo and Nigeria, Sudan and Ethiopia were ranked by the UN as among

01:24the countries most affected by food crises.

01:27The Kigali forum is exploring new ideas, such as crop diversification, grain processing,

01:33better management of agricultural budgets and improving trade between African states.

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