ithout overlooking other parts of the world, my thoughts go especially to Africa, where the situation continues to be quite alarming: people there are not only suffering from an imbalance of food production and a consequent food shortage but are also burdened by conflicts, epidemics and constant displacements that in many cases could be prevented by implementing appropriate strategies and programs based on the respect of human life and dignity.

One of the most evident effects of all this is the reduction of cultivated areas. Moreover, so many of those countries afflicted by chronic political and institutional instability appear increasingly dependent on aid and on the importation of food from economically more developed nations, thus creating a truly unsustainable situation.

Further forms of violence against life are not needed to resolve this distressing situation; what is required is the establishment of an international order inspired by justice and enlivened by a sense of brotherhood.”

John Paul II, World Food Day Message,
October 16, 2003

Sub-Saharan Africa poses the greatest challenge in regard to current famine and achieving food security in the next two decades.
While projections for many other regions of the world indicate improvements over time for food security and nutrition, prospects for Africa’s nearly 700 million people remain bleak.

Why Africa? Consider this:

African land has been used for agriculture for at least ten millennia; this land is “tired” and less fertile than land in North America, for example, that has only been used for large-scale food production in the last four hundred years.

Much of Africa was ruled by colonial powers, beginning with the arrival of the Portuguese in the 16th century. By the 19th century, almost all of Africa was colonized by European nations, who divided up the continent at the Congress of Berlin in 1873 and drained enormous amounts of resources from it. In the 20th century, after World War II, many African nations were given their independence, but few had the economic infrastructures or accountable government systems necessary to ensure a decent quality of life for all their citizens. While a few Africans profited, colonialism and the inadequate systems that were left behind have meant continued and terrible suffering for millions of people. Civil conflicts and war have been one legacy of colonialism. In the past decade, conflict and war have affected more than 1/3 of the countries in sub-Saharan Africa. Internal conflicts have interrupted progress in some countries that had achieved a measure of food security in previous years.

Africa suffers from many disasters, both natural and man-made, as do developed countries. But unlike industrial countries in the north (which have the resources to respond to floods, hurricanes, droughts, and recent manmade disasters and political conflicts), most countries in Africa do not have the funds, food, and medical resources needed to respond adequately.

The burden of Debt owed to international institutions (the World Bank and the IMF) contributes to an inadequate trade situation and does not allow the countries to develop in a way that is sustainable (for the long-term). Farmers in many African countries cannot receive, under the terms of their country’s debt repayment, any government funds to help in farming costs; their land goes unfarmed or is used to produce export crops while their children go hungry.

The delivery of food aid has in some cases unintentionally increased dependency on outside food assistance, rather than allowing farmers to survive as they continue to work toward long-term food production. For example, emergency feeding stations have often been located far from farmers’ land. As a result, farmers have migrated closer to the feeding stations, leaving their own struggling crops to die unattended.

Woven into this mix is the rapid spread of HIV / AIDS. In some African countries, between 30 percent and 40 percent of the 15-45 age group are infected. As they grow sicker, they cannot plant crops and even become too weak to harvest grasses for food. This modern-day plague is eliminating the portion of the population responsible for most of the economic and child-rearing activities, placing huge burdens on the already fragile elderly population and ill-equipped governments to feed the thousands of orphaned children.

From the Center of Concern, Washington, DC – Dec. 2004.