Land use to blame for hunger

2006-04-04 13:54

Johannesburg - Sub-Saharan Africa would need to double its cereal output in order to eliminate hunger and malnourishment on the continent, the South African Institute of Race Relations said in Johannesburg on Tuesday.

"Poor farming techniques, rather than drought or Aids, were the reason why a hectare of arable land in sub-Saharan Africa produced less than half the amount of cereal a hectare as the rest of the developing world only 20% of the average yield in Europe EMU," said Frans Cronje a researcher at the Institute.

These findings were published in the Institute's annual South Africa Survey which was released in Johannesburg this month.

While sub-Saharan Africa had on average more arable land per hectare than other developing regions it had the lowest amount of irrigated land as a proportion of total cropland, the lowest fertilizer consumption per hectare, and the lowest value added per agricultural worker of any developing region.

While cereal yield on the subcontinent had increased by 18% over the past decade, as much as 40% of sub-Saharan Africa's population remained malnourished.

The World Food Program estimated that sub-Saharan Africa would require 2 000 000 tonnes of food aid in 2006.

"While Aids and erratic weather patterns have been identified as aggravating food insecurity these factors where not sufficient to explain the high levels of undernourishment.

"International comparisons show that implementing better farming techniques is crucial to reducing the incidence of hunger on the continent," Cronje said.

- I-Net Bridge (Business)