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Ministers and senior delegates from five African Nations met today with FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva ahead of a High-Level meeting of African and international leaders in Addis Ababa next June set to create a renewed partnership for intensifying efforts to end hunger in Africa.
"There is an enormous window of opportunity," for eradicating hunger in the continent, Graziano da Silva told a side-event organized during a week-long Session of FAO's governing Council here. The key lies in capitalizing on the successes of the many African countries who have already found solutions for food insecurity and malnutrition.
Ending hunger in Africa | Growth Green Agriculture (GG Agriculture)
"By building on these experiences we can eradicate food insecurity and malnutrition in Africa. Together we can stop the suffering of the estimated 23 percent of all Africans who remain undernourished, and 40 percent of children under five who are stunted or malnourished," he said.
One reason for optimism is the unprecedented political commitment of governments and the African people to end hunger. An example is the decision of FAO's regional Conference for Africa to set up an Africa Food Security Trust Fund. The Republic of the Congo, Angola and Equatorial Guinea have already announced they will contribute.
New, unified approaches
Together with political commitment, partnership is the key. "This is the reason why FAO joined forces with the African Union and Brazil's Instituto Lula to host a High-Level meeting in Addis Ababa from 30 June to 1 July called "New, unified approaches to end hunger in Africa".
The new approach will build on the work of the 10-year-old Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP), which is already running successfully in 30 countries, and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's Zero Hunger Challenge, in order to harness strong and sustained political commitment to end hunger in Africa.
"Our aim is to see what works for Africans and non-Africans, to learn from those experiences, to scale up already successful activities, to fill gaps we identify and, if necessary, adjust or rethink our approach," Graziano da Silva said.
Innovative partnerships
"We intend to apply forms of innovative partnerships, to involve all sectors of society, to strengthen collective responsibility, and in this way to improve implementation of CAADP goals," he added.
Guests on the podium at the side event included Rigobert Maboundou, Minister of Agriculture and Livestock, Republic of Congo, and Chair of the 27th FAO Regional Conference; Amadou Allahoury Diallo, High Commissioner of the Republic of Niger's Nigerians Nourish Nigerians (3N) initiative; Jeffrey Luhanga, Principal Secretary for Agriculture and Food Security of the Ministry of Agriculture, Republic of Malawi; Florêncio Mariano da Conceição, Ambassador of the Republic of Angola; and Abreha Aseffa, Deputy Permanent Representative to FAO of the Federal Republic of Ethiopia. Laila Lokaseng, CAADP Advisor on Nutrition and Food Security, represented the African Union's Commissioner for Rural Economy and Agriculture Tumusiime Rhoda Peace.
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