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Africa Human Development Report 2012: Towards a Food Secure Future
Africa Human Development Report 2012: Towards a Food Secure Future
November 4, 2013
The 2012 Human Development Report for Africa explores why dehumanizing hunger remains pervasive in the region, despite abundant agricultural resources, a favorable growing climate, and rapid economic growth rates. It also emphasizes that food security – the ability to consistently acquire enough calories and nutrients for a healthy and productive life - is essential for human development.
- Sub-Saharan Africa’s population, 856 million in 2010, is projected to exceed 2 billion shortly after 2050
- More than one in four Africans - close to 218 million people - is undernourished.
- Two major biases – towards towns rather than rural areas and towards men, not women – have been principal factors in explaining Africa’s food insecurity.
- African governments spend between 5-10% of their budgets on agriculture, well below the 20% average that Asian governments devoted to the sector during the green revolution there.
- Women are significant food producers, but their control of land in sub-Saharan Africa is less than in any other region.
