Food Security in Sub-Saharan Africa: Africa Human Development Report 2012

In the last decade, Sub-Saharan Africa has experienced widespread growth. However, many of these gains have not yet improved the region’s food security or access to water. African governments and the international community, including the G-20 have recognized the serious threats posed by inadequate access to food and water. And recently, the United Nations Development Programme released its first Africa Human Development Report, Towards a Food Secure Future, which calls for fundamental change in governance and development strategies to overcome food insecurity.

On July 20, the Africa Growth Initiative at Brookings and United Nations Development Programme hosted a discussion of how the report’s findings can support the efforts of African governments and international development partners to promote economic growth while ensuring increased access to food and water. UNDP Regional Bureau for Africa chief economist and head of the Strategic and Advisory Unit Pedro Conceição presented the report’s findings, followed by remarks from Beth Dunford, acting deputy assistant to the administrator at the Bureau of Food Security at the U.S. Agency for International Development; Prabhu Pingali, deputy director, Agricultural Development Policy and Statistics at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation; and Eugene Terry, senior technical adviser at TransFarm Africa. Brookings Senior Fellow Mwangi S. Kimenyi, director of the Africa Growth Initiative, provided introductory remarks and moderated the discussion.