Last week I wrote about an imminent dilemma that Africa faces: its farmers are old, aged 60 on average, and convincing their offspring to take over when they call it a day – which should be in the next five to ten years – is proving to be an uphill task. Only very few countries, the likes of Ghana, are succeeding in luring young people to farming by sprucing its image up so that it becomes chic.

Now the United Nations (UN) Food and Agriculture Organisation has published a shocking report concerning the worsening food security situation in not only Africa but also other continents. For the third year in a row, 821-million people worldwide faced hunger in 2018 – which corresponds to one out of every nine people – according to the agency, which compiled the report in partnership with other UN bodies, including the World Health Organisation, the World Food Programme, the United Nations Children’s Fund and the International Fund for Agricultural Development.

The situation is most alarming in Africa, where, in recent years, almost all subregions have witnessed slight but steady increases in undernourishment, which is a proxy for hunger. The overall undernourishment rate on the continent rose to 19.9% in 2018 – from 18.3% in 2015, 19.2% in 2016 and 19.8% in 2017. The worst-affected region is East Africa, with a prevalence rate of 30.8% in 2018, followed by Middle Africa (26.5%), West Africa (14.7%) and Southern Africa (8%).

The continent’s increasing undernourishment challenge is fuelled by several factors, including extreme weather events, which currently affect several countries, and conflict. According to the report, the number of undernourished people in conflict-affected countries increased by 23.4-million between 2015 and 2018, a significantly sharper uptick than in conflict-free countries.

Persistent droughts are also a contributory factor, with the prevalence of undernourishment in sub-Saharan African countries that are prone to drought having increased from 17.4% to 21.8% over the past six years. This contrasts with a decline from an average of 24.6% to 23.8% in nondrought-prone countries during the same period.

Beyond hunger, the report spotlights food insecurity, noting that moderate levels of this phenomenon affect 1.3-billion people, equivalent to 17.2% of the world’s population. This means that, while they may not experience hunger, they lack regular access to nutritious and sufficient food, placing them at great risk of various forms of malnutrition and poor health. Those who face moderate and severe food insecurity are estimated at two-billion people.

Again, Africa happens to be the continent with the greatest food insecurity challenge, with the prevalence rate being 52.5% in 2018, compared with 47.6% in 2014, 48.3% in 2015, 52.6% in 2016 and 54.3% in 2017.

The picture painted by the report raises serious questions about whether the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal 2 – which concerns access to food by all and the elimination of all forms of malnutrition by 2030 – will be attained.

And what’s the situation in South Africa? According to a report released in February by environmental organisation the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), the country will face a food security crisis if unsustainable agricultural practices persist. The authors of the report, titled ‘Agri-Food Systems: Facts and Figures’, calculate that Mzansi will need to produce 50% more food by 2050 to feed an estimated 73-million-strong population.

The WWF, which contends that the country needs to undertake comprehensive reforms of the agriculture sector in order to meet the needs of a growing population, states: “Until a few years ago, the WWF focused on the impacts of agricultural production, which are by far the most significant environmental impacts.

“However, focusing on farms only will not bring about the necessary structural transformation that is needed for a resilient and secure food system.

“If we want to achieve this shift within the complex adaptive system, we need to follow a socioecological approach, where the social, economic and political dimensions are imbedded within the ecological component.”

Very wise words indeed. And one hopes our government does just that.