Kelsey Daniels

Food Security- Availability for Cereal Products in Sub-Saharan Africa

In 1996, the World Food Summit defined food security to exist when all people,
at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that
meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life (DiazBonilla, 2013). The World Health Organization breaks down food security into several
pillars: availability, access, utilization and stability. Food insecurity plagues every country
and specifically populations in low-income households.
This article will focus on food insecurity through the lack of availability of cereal
products in Sub-Saharan Africa. Availability refers to the supply of food through
production, distribution and exchange. Historically, Sub-Saharan Africa has suffered in
undernourishment and malnutrition from food insecurity. Repeatedly afflicted by conflict
and natural disasters, it remains the largest region suffering from food insecurity, with
thirty-three percent of the population undernourished (Food Security). Other constraints
include physical access to expanding land, insecure land ownership, limited access to
animal and mechanical power, labor shortages due to migration and disease and
competing sectors. As a result, a staple crop to the food supply of Sub-Saharan Africa has
had production that is lagging behind population growth. Countries must rely on
unsustainable trade imports, creating negative trade balances and high debt, and
international food aid to satisfy the demand for cereal products (Food Security). Zambia
is just one country that exemplifies these issues. In 2003-04, which was considered a
good harvest year, the Zambia Vulnerability Assessment Committee (VAC) expected
that 60,960 people in six districts would fail to have adequate access to their staple food
and would need food relief (Chiwele, 2004). This dilemma is paradoxical though
because Zambia for the most part has high agricultural potential in terms of climate and
supportive soil. However, constraints including uncertainty in changing government
policies, less economic support for farmers such as removal of subsidies, unfavorable
agricultural prices and lack of labor from HIV/AIDS have seriously hindered the
country's ability to produce and create availability of cereal products.
In the United States, President Obama has taken several steps to promote food
security in foreign policy. In 2012, he joined G-8 leaders, African heads of state and the
African Union to launch the New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition (Office,
2013). Here, global leaders pledged to lift 50 million people out of poverty in subSaharan Africa by 2022. Non- governmental organizations in the United States have also
pledged billions of dollars in private funding for global food security activities and
nutrition programs globally. However, the FAO policy brief acknowledges that beyond
financial resources, especially in the form of foreign aid, local policies, institution and
political support are equally as important to agricultural development in countries to
promote food security.
Hindering Hunger, the non-profit organization we have created, can assist SubSaharan African communities with food security by pledging financial aid to those who
lack supply of food but also by working with governments to promote policy changes.
Hindering Hunger will heavily promote programs concerned with farming subsidies and
HIV/AID prevention to encourage more farmers and increase the labor capacity. Also we

will promote governmental policies geared toward property rights, sound and farming
practices and free and fair international trade. We hope to gain each country's support and
cooperation in alleviating food insecurity in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Allison Tully
The global issue I am interested in is food security and agricultural development
Sub-Saharan Africa. According to Jason Bremner, one person in every four [in subSaharan Africa] lack adequate food for a healthy and active life, and record food prices
and drought are pushing more people into poverty and hunger (1). About 30% of SubSaharan Africas population is undernourished due to the countrys inability to adapt to
environmental changes such as droughts or flood which affect the food supply throughout
the area. Everyone who lives in the Sub-Saharan region is affected by this food crisis
especially as poverty rates are increasing day to day. In order to fix the lack of food and
improve the food security situation in the area, economic growth and governmental
involvement must occur. The economy itself needs to reduce its poverty rates which
requires the governmental leaders to find an efficient way to use agriculture as the major
source of improvement for the country. They need to use the minerals and the countrys
main exports as a way to create jobs for the poor and trade with as many countries as
possible to restore the economy.
The government has made little, if at all, efforts in trying to improve the SubSaharans economy. The government made budget cuts in 2003 which actually worsened
the economy as well as helped the rich and successful people rather than focusing on the
poor and hungry. The NEPAD continues today to aid food to developing countries and
regions around the world, including Sub-Saharan Africa. Today, over 70 global
companies have invested in the small countries of Sub-Saharan Africa in order to
increase smallholder incomes by expanding seed production and distribution, establish
small-scale irrigation systems, and source local food for national, regional, and global
food supply chains (Food Security in Sub-Saharan Africa 1).
According to the Food Security and Agricultural Development in Sub-Saharan
Africa article, there are five main priorities for the region of Sub-Saharan African as a
whole: governments must resolve armed conflicts, design strategies for income,
reallocate resources, regional organizations must promote peace/cooperation, and
development partners must step up their assistance (5). This shows that there is plan to
improve the region as a whole and that they just need governmental leaders to take action
and make these things happen.
A certain aspect of the food security and agricultural development issue in the
Sub-Saharan is the constraints on agricultural development. The main constraints on food
security and agricultural development are political unrest, armed conflicts, and poor
governance. All of these constraints have affected farmers and rich countryside soil
causing little food production. The government should improve these constraints by
expanding land and increasing food productivity. Overall the area needs to control and
improve its water resources, fertilizer, and finance to support the regions agricultural
development and furthermore improve food security in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Julie King
Food insecurity is an internationally widespread problem. Many people do not
have the right natural or economic resources. Access to safe, nutritious and sufficient
food is a significant problem in the Sub Saharan Africa (SSA). Having access to food is
simply the ability for a community to be able to obtain and afford food and fresh
resources.
Food insecurity most commonly leads to malnutrition and famine. In SSA,
poverty and food shortage are chief difficulties faced by the population. These difficulties
stem from increases in population, access to sanitation facilities, access to safe water,
access to health care services, education and most importantly cost of food. The subSaharan Africa has the highest concentration of poor people in the world, as well as some
of the least agricultural land and labor productivity. These people not only lack access to
basic nutritional resources, but also lack access to the tools and knowledge necessary to
farm or obtain their own food. Farmers face extreme environmental challenges in SSA
and many do not even have the capability to grow certain crops necessary to fulfill a
nutritious diet. Many farmers face severe economic challenges and therefore have
difficulties in trade and output.
Even though access to food was recognized by the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights (1948) as a basic human right, food security is still not treated as such
internationally. The first step to reducing food insecurity would be knowledge and
education to help farmers to survive their environmental difficulties. If farmers in SSA
could learn and execute more modern techniques and crops, they could be more
successful in their work as well as in trading. SSA could utilize resources from more
developed countries by trading crops and resources that they do possess. Countries such
as Ghana, Malawi and other African countries have made grave efforts to improve their
food security and face these obstacles by adapting their farming techniques to more a
more modern variety.
Hindering Hunger, an organization dedicated to reducing food insecurity in Sub
Saharan Africa, could assist in these problems through education and providing farmers
in SSA with the tools they needed to adapt to their environmental limitations, as well as
gear the government to further assist small farm holders with these same issues.

Natalie Lanzisero
A description of the issue:
The World Food Summit defines food security as when all people, at all times, have
physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meets their
dietary needs and food preferences for active and healthy life (1996). Unfortunately, not
all food that is produced on our planet is distributed evenly. Every year, four tons of food
are produced globally. However, due to the deeply-rooted gap of wealth throughout the
world, a huge portion of our annual food yield is granted to wealthier nations. This leaves
third world countries to essentially fight for their food. As a whole, Sub-Saharan Africa is
33% undernourished. Every year, 1 billion people go to bed hungry while another 1
billion people are obese. Clearly there are some huge discrepancies in worldwide supply
and demand of food. Many nations in Sub-Saharan Africa struggle with their level of
access to food. With very poor transport, food often does not reach those who need it
most. If food does reach those in need, it is usually at excessively high prices. About
seventeen countries in Sub-Saharan Africa have a constrained supply of food due to
conflicts within their region. It has been found in many of these countries that food is
often used as a mechanism of persuasion by the government. Corruption and abuse of
power is something that makes the issue of food security all the more challenging.
Who is affected?
Food insecurity affects many parts of Sub-Saharan Africa. Specifically, the nations that
fall under authoritarian regimes like Eritrea, Sudan, and Angola have a particularly hard
time securing sustainable nutrition. The United Nations Humanitarian Needs Overview
for Sudan estimates that the food insecure population totals at 5.3 million. This can be
due to political conflict, environmental damage from natural disasters, and the rising
market prices of commodities and fuel. Hunger discriminates against no one women,
children, elderly.
How leaders have addressed the issue:
The Food Security and Livelihoods (FSL) sector coordinates relief efforts in Sudan. The
FSL sector supports people with food assistance and productive livelihood inputs in areas
to which people have fled, as well as in areas where people have returned and have
access to land for cultivation (Food Security Cluster 2014).
The World Food Programme is working to provide food assistance to four million people
in Sudan (WFP 2015). WFP works with several other non-profit organizations aimed at
helping these struggling nations with their food security.