FOOD AND NUTRITION SECURITY, POVERTY AND ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY: STILL A CHALLENGE IN AFRICA AGNES W. MWANG’OMBE University of Nairobi

Food and Nutrition security and poverty status Until the poor and vulnerable are assisted with problem of food insecurity, hunger will continue to block their prospects to invest and develop themselves out of poverty. Food insecurity in Africa, as one of the major causes of hunger and malnutrition, continues to deter economic growth and limit progress in reducing poverty.

M(I)DGs and NEPAD African countries are committed to both MDGs and at least 6% annual GDP growth rates. The region needs to seriously start integrating climate change issues into its developmental strategies. The impacts of either droughts or floods are immense.

Comprehensive African Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP): the African response (2003)

Dublin initiative discussing aligning CGIAR AND CAADP AUC has been involved in a key engagement on the broader efforts of advancing African Agriculture through CAADP by aligning the work of the CGIAR to African Agriculture. CGIAR SLOs: –Reduce rural poverty –Improve food security –Improve nutrition and health –Sustainably manage natural resources through high-quality international research and partnerships-CRPs

Tackling complex issues with collaborative research-15CRPs

Proposed way forward: Just to name a few areas to focus on Create effective seed systems(vegetatively propagated germplasm ) to facilitate uptake of high yielding varieties- dryland cereals, indigenous vegetables, tuber crops etc) Leverage for Support for Human (attracting and retaining the youth and including Farmer education/exposure) and Institutional capacity building. Support processing/value addition initiatives to reduce wastage of harvested farm produce Create and support Effective partnerships

Thank you