The 17th Africa Day for Food and Nutrition Security focused on investment in resilient food systems.
Officials urge African governments to fund climate-smart farming, nutritious local foods and school meals while improving water management.
African governments face calls to increase domestic food security funding as climate shocks and poor water management threaten food systems. Officials also warned that underinvestment puts the continent’s nutrition goals at risk.
Speaking during the 17th Africa Day for Food and Nutrition Security, policymakers and development partners urged governments to turn commitments into investment. Priorities included climate-smart agriculture, nutritious local foods, school feeding and stronger markets for smallholder farmers.
Delegates also called for national development plans that bring together agriculture, health, water management and nutrition. They argued that this approach would strengthen food systems and support economic growth.
Food security funding must link water and farming
George Esunge Fominyen urged governments to tackle water, food security and nutrition as connected challenges. He represents the World Food Programme at the African Union and the UN Economic Commission for Africa.
Fominyen warned that climate shocks and growing pressure on water resources could worsen hunger and malnutrition. Communities facing conflict, displacement and economic hardship remain particularly vulnerable, he said.
He therefore called for coordinated action linking sustainable water management with climate-resilient agriculture, food markets and social protection. Stronger national institutions should also support those efforts.
School feeding programmes offer a practical link between nutrition, education and local economic development, Fominyen said. They can improve children’s access to nutritious meals while giving smallholder farmers reliable markets.
Meanwhile, Agriculture Principal Secretary Paul Rono urged countries to rethink food production, preparation and consumption. He said nutritional value should matter alongside food availability, with more diverse meals replacing diets dominated by starches.
Rono also argued that Africa must improve water management and storage. He emphasised water harvesting to support farming amid increasingly unpredictable weather.
Nutrition budgets and youth participation
Delegates urged governments and development partners to widen young people’s access to productive resources, technology and markets. They also called for decent employment opportunities in agriculture.
Youth representative Nhlawulo Shikwambane said young people should help shape agricultural policies and investment decisions. She urged stakeholders to turn commitments into investments that support farmers, strengthen local food systems and create opportunities for women and youth.
World Health Organization Kenya Country Manager Betty Lanyero, meanwhile, stressed the connection between agriculture and health. She called for nutrition in public budgets, alongside greater investment in locally produced nutritious foods and child nutrition.
Lanyero also urged stronger accountability, domestic financing and partnerships across sectors. These measures, she said, would help translate continental strategies into better household nutrition, agricultural productivity and economic resilience.
