Even with nearly a quarter of the world's one billion-plus hungry living in sub-Saharan Africa, experts agree that with additional investments in agriculture, particularly in research and capacity-building, Africa can easily meet its food and income needs.
They were speaking at an open forum convened by the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) and the University of Zambia in Lusaka in observance of 2009 World Food Day.
By investing in research and training, simple and effective technologies that are already existing can be easily made available to farmers in Africa to improve their productivity, which is currently very low compared to global average.
According to Hartmann, the Director General of IITA, if the yield gaps between the potential and actual yields can be reduced using existing science, Africa's production can increase three-fold.
However, he also cautioned that farmers must be able to generate wealth from the increased yields. This is not always the case as a lot of produce go to waste before and after harvesting.
He adds that in Africa, an increase production is usually accompanied by a drop in prices.
"It is also important that farmers' produce should be protected from damage by pests and diseases as well as loss during transportation and storage," he said. "Farmers should have alternative markets to prevent prices spiralling with increased production."
Wilson Mwenya, the Acting Vice Chancellor of UNZA said the world financial crisis had added more challenges to Zambia's struggle for development.
He said that over 90 per cent of the country's population is heavily dependent on agriculture for their livelihood, with 70 per cent of this comprising subsistence peasant agriculture. Most also depend on the rains, which makes agriculture more uncertain because of climate change.
"It is at times like these that institutions of research and training must come together to produce a labour force that is knowledgeable and ready to face the challenges of climate change and quickly find solutions and disseminate them yesterday," he emphasized.
Stephen Mulioleka of the Golden Valley Agricultural Research Trust (GART) agreed that productivity in Africa was low due to low inputs. For instance in Zambia, he said, on average farmers use 8kg/ha of fertilizer compared to 19kg/ha for other countries.
"Farmers need a lot of support and motivation through a conducive policy environment and support with improved inputs such as feed, fertilizer and water."
Noureddin Mona, country representative of FAO, indicated that back-to-back crises starting in 2007 have negatively impacted global food security and pushing the number of the world's hungry to an all time high of over 1 billion.
He suported the call for more investment in agricultural research and training as one of the ways to fight food insecurity, adding that farmers must also be actively involved in research to ensure that the technologies produced are appropriate to local conditions and are acceptable to end-users.
About IITA Africa has complex problems that plague agriculture and people's lives. We develop agricultural solutions with our partners to tackle hunger and poverty. Our award winning research for development (R4D) is based on focused, authoritative thinking anchored on the development needs of sub-Saharan Africa. We work with partners in Africa and beyond to reduce producer and consumer risks, enhance crop quality and productivity, and generate wealth from agriculture. IITA is an international non-profit R4D organization founded in 1967, governed by a Board of Trustees, and supported primarily by the CGIAR.
