Food security in light of climate change, droughts, and floods emerged as one of the key issues discussed at the 24th African Union Summit which ended in Addis Ababa on 31 January 2015, reports the Inter Press Service.
According to the article, climate change has a major influence on the livelihoods of especially vulnerable smallholder farmers. Droughts, floods and other environmental disasters make it even more difficult for those exposed to sustain their livelihoods or even think about increasing their agricultural productivity, with their arable lands affected and the harvest of farmers all over the continent destroyed.
Tacko Ndiaye, FAO Senior Officer for Rural Development and Gender, believes that eradicating hunger can be reached within a decade. “It is realistic if the investment is there, if the capabilities are there, if the institutional mechanism are there, if the partnerships are there,” she told IPS. “These are very realistic targets, but all those dimensions have to be there.”