Editor's note: Alexander Ayertey Odonkor is an economic consultant, chartered financial analyst and chartered economist with an in-depth understanding of the economic landscape of countries in Asia and Africa. The article reflects the author's opinions and not necessarily the views of CGTN.

In January, a joint report of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP) warned that acute food insecurity in 20 countries, identified as hunger hotspots, was likely to worsen in the months ahead. 

Demographically, a whopping majority of the hunger hotspots are located in Africa, with the continent also accounting for three out of the four countries – Ethiopia, Nigeria, South Sudan and Yemen – where immediate humanitarian actions are needed to prevent starvation and death. Without mincing words, this has been the part of Africa that the world knows too well. For decades, Africa has been plagued with a high incidence of hunger, a condition that could certainly be prevented if germane measures were taken.

Africa is home to abundant agricultural resources that could produce more than enough food to feed the region's bulging population, but the reality is gut-wrenching. An FAO report from last year shows that as of 2020, more than a third of Africa's population, or about 282 million people, was undernourished, a surge of 46 million over 2019. In other words, one in five people in Africa are experiencing hunger. 

Evidently, the region has been characterized by hunger for decades, while actions aimed at ameliorating the condition have yielded minimal results. However, with Africa's burgeoning population, perhaps this should have been the opportune duration to right the wrongs.

So what is the reality on the ground? Countries across the continent have repeatedly indicated that they are not up to the task when the goal is to unlock the full potential of agricultural resources in the region, a deficiency that has pushed Africa.

With 60 percent of the entire world's unused arable land, it is astounding that Africa is a net importer of food. According to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), from 2016 to 2018, Africa imported nearly 85 percent of its food from outside the continent, an increasing food import bill that could exceed $110 billion by 2025.

Obviously, Africa's excessive reliance on food imports has been anything but the solution to ending hunger, and clearly, food aid to the region has also not been the panacea. Why so? While the region depends on food aid significantly, it is interesting to know that post-harvest losses in Africa far exceed the food aid the continent receives. In 2011, the World Bank and FAO jointly published a report that estimated that the value of grain post-harvest losses alone in Sub-Saharan Africa amounted to $4 billion a year out of an annual grain production of $27 billion for 2005-2007.

Several restrictive measures, such as lockdowns and travel restrictions, adopted by African governments to curb the spread of COVID-19 have been a blessing and a curse as they have contributed significantly to increasing post-harvest losses, as farmers are not able to transport their harvested crops to the markets.

The sustainable solution to end hunger in Africa does not revolve around soliciting more food aid or increasing food imports but addressing post-harvest losses and strengthening climate-resilient agriculture.

For example, in February, the WFP announced that 13 million are people experiencing severe hunger in the Horn of Africa (Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia), as severe drought clutches the peninsula. With the Horn of Africa currently facing the driest conditions recorded since 1981, the area has now experienced three consecutive failed rainy seasons, destroying crops and causing abnormally high livestock deaths – widespread water and pasture shortages are compelling people to flee their homes, a situation that has increased conflicts, pushed many into poverty and increased hunger substantially.

Similarly, in other parts of the continent, climate change, poverty and conflicts – the primary causes of hunger now exacerbated by COVID-19 – could be largely addressed via agriculture development. So, what is the way forward?

Certainly, the solution to these challenges requires building colossal climate-resilient infrastructure to support climate-resilient agriculture, all of which demands massive funding and technical expertise that unfortunately the continent does not have at the moment.

Ultimately, the success of this pathway is partly dependent on African countries engaging reliable partners that have demonstrated beyond reasonable doubt that they are committed to the development of the continent. 

For Africa, China is the most suitable partner. Current infrastructure investment trend in Africa shows that China is by far the continent's largest foreign investor. These investments which are mostly skewed towards energy and transport infrastructure projects are addressing the region's power and transport challenges.

With more investments in the transport sector and renewable energy projects in Africa, China's contributions are not only essential for bolstering climate-resilient agriculture but also vital for promoting an inclusive and efficient agricultural value chain.

While this is a step in the right direction in the fight against hunger, Sino-Africa cooperation, development organizations and private involvement should make additional efforts to make food storage facilities affordable and accessible to mitigate post-harvest losses in both rural and urban areas, provide adequate infrastructure to support climate-resilient agriculture and introduce more ICT related jobs in the agriculture sector to engage the youth. Collectively, these directives will mitigate food loss and increase food production in Africa without putting pressure on natural resources, an outcome that will contribute significantly in ending hunger. 

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