Moving from food quantity to nutritious food as 310 million people face hunger in Africa

African researchers on food and nutrition security have been challenged to move away from churning out researches that are not implemented.

The call comes amid concerns that despite extensive research, policies and strategies developed to address food insecurity, millions of people across the continent continue to face hunger and poor nutrition.

Principal Secretary for Agriculture Paul Rono challenged researchers and policymakers to translate their findings into practical interventions that deliver measurable results.

“Can the policies work, can we move from books and papers discussions to action, can someone take us to the next room of action, ask yourselves when we come back next time, what will we have done as countries, there should be a change of tact,” he said.

Dr. Rono was speaking in Nairobi during the 17th Africa Day for Food and Nutrition Security (ADFNS), which brought together representatives from more than 20 African countries.

He noted that the meeting comes at a critical point in the continent’s agricultural development agenda, following the transition from the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) Malabo Declaration to the Kampala Declaration and its Agrifood Systems Strategy and Action Plan (2026–2035).

“It is the first ADFNS after the transition from the CAADP Malabo Declaration to the CAADP Kampala Declaration and its Agrifood Systems Strategy and Action Plan (2026–2035),” he said.

The meeting, held under the theme ‘Harnessing Sustainable Water for Resilient Agrifood Systems, Nutrition Security and Inclusive Prosperity in Africa’, also aligns with the African Union’s 2026 Theme of the Year on assuring sustainable water availability and safe sanitation systems.

The PS said Africa must also address the disconnect between food availability and access to nutritious diets, noting that hunger often takes precedence over nutritional considerations among households struggling to access food.

“If you go look at the story of food security and you look at nutritious food, they don’t speak to one another. Why, first of all if you don’t have food any food is food, nutrition comes last, you cannot talk about nutrition when people are hungry,” he said.

The PS noted that global statistics have shown that 50 percent of the budget goes to expenditure on carbohydrates, while 12.5% is spent on nutritious food noting that this was causing challenges when it comes to children in schools and the population, calling for a paradigm shift and a relook at the nutrition content in the food.

“We need to shift from food quantity to nutritious food and this remains a challenge in Africa because we like filling our plates with what is called starchy or carbohydrate food. We like filling our plate with ugali or rice or wheat-like carbohydrate food. We need to shift so that we also have nutritious food,” said Dr. Rono.

He noted that 310 million people in Africa face hunger and food access challenges against a global figure of 2.7 billion people, urging for plans and strategies and working in a coordinated manner to reducing the number of those facing hunger on the continent saying that discussion on agricultural technologies, soil health, the agricultural value chain the involvement of farmers is critical towards achieving the goal on nutrition security.

He urged for a paradigm shift in approach by bringing together all the actors the World Health Organisation, World Food Programme, and the Food and Agriculture Organisation as well as political goodwill to work towards one goal of achieving food and nutrition security.

The PS said Kenya is already taking the lead having registered over 9 million farmers who access subsidized fertilizer are able to access other services including soil testing and how to utilize the different value chains.

He expressed worry over the changing weather patterns but noted that already the government is working on policies that will wean the country from dependence on rain-fed agriculture to irrigation agriculture.

“Water is needed from crop production, livestock, fisheries and aquaculture, food processing, food safety, sanitation, healthy diets, ecosystem health and human wellbeing. Despite the critical role water plays, Africa painfully continues to experience water scarcity and drought, declining water quality and biodiversity loss thus straining the resilience and productivity of our food systems,” he said.

Rono noted that Climate-resilient water management is therefore not a side agenda, but the foundation of resilient agrifood systems, and it demands integrated approaches linking water, agriculture, nutrition, WASH and environmental sustainability.

The post Moving from food quantity to nutritious food as 310 million people face hunger in Africa appeared first on KBC Digital.