Africa: Food Crisis Looms in a Number of Countries

By Lilian Museka

Seventy-five per cent of African countries are at a higher or extreme risk on food security, risk analysis company Maplecroft indicates.The company’s food security risk index shows that of the 59 countries that are most at risk, 39 are from Africa.

 Among the African countries include (in the order) Somali and DR Congo as first on the index followed by Burundi, Chad, Ethiopia, Eritrea, South Sudan, Comoros and Sierra Leone.

 Maplecroft´s head of maps and indices Helen Hodge says food prices for the coming year depicted a sad picture especially in sub Saharan Africa.

The Food Security Risk Index is used a barometer to identify countries prone to famine, food shortages and price fluctuations.

The report also indicates that food security may create civil unrest and political instability as populations could scale protests because of inflation.

In 2011 during the protests in Egypt and Tunisia that led to Arab revolutions, rising food prices were indicated to be a contributing factor. The two countries are ranked at 71 and 100 in that order as middle class risks.

Despite strong economic growth, food security remains an issue of primary importance for African countries

And in the light of recent food price spikes, the findings are especially significant for areas of sub-Saharan Africa where poverty, armed conflict, civil unrest, drought, displacement and poor governance can combine to create conditions where a food crisis may take hold.

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