Ending rural hunger: highlighting the particular food and nutrition security challenges faced by African nations
This blog series by the Brookings Institution highlights the particular food and nutrition security (FNS) challenges faced by African nations, policies in place and recommendations to improve the country strategy towards hunger eradication. This is done through six case studies in the Global Ending Rural Hunger project. Given the nutritional gaps in Senegal, efforts should focus especially on fighting anemia and reducing the high prevalence of underweight children. The government must redesign its FNS policies and better target its beneficiaries to increase efficiency. Two policy areas where attention is needed are: 1) increasing agricultural productivity through reallocating resources towards more targeted investments in infrastructure, research, and human capital, and 2) reducing the high volatility of food production and vulnerability to environmental shocks. Uganda made progress toward improving its FNS status. However, inequalities still exist with respect to type of residence (rural-urban), geographic location, and gender. Uganda should address three areas: 1) stimulate improved agricultural productivity through increased access to productivity-enhancing inputs, 2) design and implement interventions that foster resilience in households and communities to income and consumption shocks, and 3) develop strategies for building a sustainable resource base to finance FNS interventions. While Ghana performs better than the African average on undernourishment, stunting, and wasting, concentrated pockets of these still exist in Northern Ghana. Ghana faces a new challenge: it must find innovative sources of finance to help support FNS programs as becoming a LMIC decreases its access to donor-funded programs. Additionally attention should be payed to managing phasing out while sustaining previously obtained gains.
The other blogs in this series cover case studies of Nigeria, Tanzania and Ethiopia (not published yet).