The United Nations housing agency(UN-HABITAT) has called on African countries to address rapid urbanization which it said was a contributory factor to food insecurity in Africa.
UN-HABITAT Executive Director Dr. Annan Tibaijuka also asked African countries to check the trend by securing sustainable agriculture in rural areas.
Addressing hundreds of delegates attending the ongoing 25th Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) Africa regional conference in Nairobi late Thursday, Tibaijuka said urbanization offered hope for the continent both urban and rural and if administered could empower natives to become prosperous.
"But for this hope to be realized, we must begin to invest in the African city, to make the African city work for Africa's agriculture and rural development," she said.
The 25th FAO regional conference of Agriculture ministers are expected to develop a solution to a global food crisis that has already sparked off food riots in Nairobi, Dakar, N'djamena and Cairo.
The continent is handicapped by outdated farming methods, erratic weather and a volatile international market.
Tibaijuka urged African governments to properly manage urbanization as this was possible yardstick for the current food crisis.
She said at the present crisis was neither a matter of food shortage or food production but it was basically about food pricing driven by the factors of supply and demand, adding that the demand was high in poorly planned and managed cities thus a lasting solution to the looming starvation would have to incorporate sustainable urbanization.
"Urbanization in itself is not the problem in Africa. In fact, in most African countries, cities account for a large proportion of all economic activity. Nairobi with a population of about 2.6 million represents about five percent of the national population, but accounts for over 20 percent of the GDP," she said.
The United Nations official also noted that for development to occur there was need to ensure growth coupled with ensuring equitable benefits resulting from the growth , saying cities in Africa were without doubt the primary engines for development.
Tibaijuka further expressed fears over the alarming increase in the number of slum dwellers with statistics indicating that the number had hit the 1 billion mark a fact that she said if not checked the figure would reach 2 billion by 2030.
"Today 71.9 percent of urban Africans live in slums, variously known as shanty towns. This figure is 46 percent for Asia and a little over 30 percent for Latin America and the Caribbean," she added.
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) director-general Jacques Diouf said despite the fact that the African agriculture remains undercapitalized, inefficient and uncompetitive, it holds the key to ensuring food security on the continent.
Addressing the 25th FAO Regional Conference for Africa, Diouf stated that with political will and good governance, Africa can boost its agricultural production and feed its population.
He told the gathering in Nairobi that the global surge in food prices, coupled with other factors such as climate change, the diversion of agricultural production for biofuels, rapid urbanization and population growth, and animal and plant diseases, have worsened food insecurity in Africa.
Diouf called food insecurity a political issue, a matter of priorities in the midst of the most fundamental of human needs. The decisions made by governments determine the allocation of resources, he pointed out.
In 2003 African leaders committed to allocate at least 10 percent of their budgets to agriculture and rural development. However, a report by the African Union indicated that only one in five countries have reached or exceeded that target.
Annual urban growth rate in Africa is reportedly 4.87 percent, twice that of Latin America and Asia.
UN records estimated that in 1994 Africa's urban population was 172 million and by 2004 it had grown to 264 million with projections indicating the population to rise to 742 million by 2030.
To address some of the negative impacts of soaring food prices and to boost food production, FAO launched an initiative last December to support low-income, food-deficit countries by helping farmers access the vital inputs they need.
Source: Xinhua
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