Background paper on ending hunger and achieving food security in Africa

Abstract

Sustainable agriculture, food security and nutrition lie at the core of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development; the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP), and Agenda 2063: The Africa We Want, of the African Union; the Africa Regional Nutrition Strategy (2016–2025); and the Science Technology Innovation Strategy for Africa frameworks. Sustainable Development Goal 2 is indivisibly interlinked and coherently integrated through complex synergies and trade-offs with all other Sustainable Development Goals. COVID-19, along with these hazards of the region, threatens to reverse the development progress of Africa in recent years. It is threatening its ability to meet the targets of Sustainable Development Goal 2 by 2030. The pandemic is driving up acute hunger in countries already experiencing food and nutrition crises, with compounded challenges to already-fragile food systems.