23 Oct 2024

Over 700 million people around the globe will face hunger by 2030 if current food production systems are not changed, says Botswana University of Agriculture and Natural Resources (BUAN) vice chancellor, Professor Ketlhatlogile Mosepele.

Speaking at the commemoration of the 2024 World Food Day in Gaborone on Tuesday, Prof. Mosepele said the figure was from the Food Agriculture Organisation (FAO) report on the state of food security and nutrition in the world.

He said the report also highlighted that hunger was rising in Africa, and that in Botswana just under 50 per cent of the population experienced severe food insecurity. 

“These are sobering statistics that should make us act seriously on the now, and the tomorrow, of our food production systems,” said Prof. Mosepele, adding that data from Statistics Botswana showed that the agricultural and natural resources sectors were key drivers of the cost of living and that they contributed to economic inflation which ultimately contributed to food and nutrition insecurity.

He said their philosophy at the agriculture and natural resources university was sustainable growth premised on the principles of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and that their mandate was to contribute to making the country food and nutrition secure. He said they took the responsibility seriously and that it was demonstrated by them hosting the commemoration.

On the theme: The right to food for a better life and a better future, Prof. Mosepele said it emphasised a universal truth that access to food was a fundamental human right, and that securing the right was essential to ensuring, not only a better life today, but also a sustainable food secure future for prosperity.

He said the theme also resonated with the reality faced by Botswana and that the reality was that the agricultural and natural resources sectors played a pivotal role in rural livelihoods and vulnerable lives. The two sectors, he said, sustained families, built communities and were key to the actualisation of the national transformation strategy and the attainment of Vision 2036.

He, however, noted that the two sectors were faced with challenges from climate change to poor soil fertility and land degradation which jeopardised the agri-food systems.

Furthermore, Prof. Mosepele said food and nutrition insecurity contributed to hunger which ultimately affected the country’s ability to achieve the UN SDGs and Vision 2036.

The BUAN vice chancellor said it was not enough to simply raise awareness about food and nutrition insecurity, but that all stakeholders need to address the root causes of the problem leveraging on their collective strength to build a more inclusive and resilient agri-food system.

He added that the prevailing food and nutrition insecurity required all stakeholders to explore and identify the synergies leveraging on effective partnerships and collaboration for the benefit of the people.

He commended government for introducing programmes such as Temo-Letlotlo and Thuo-Letlotlo as well as interventions such as the import ban on fruits and vegetables as mitigations against food and nutrition insecurity. He also thanked FAO for playing a role in the development of some of the programmes as well as the private sector. 

He said the private sector introduced initiatives to foster an enabling environment for enhanced food production amongst local communities.

If implemented effectively, Prof. Mosepele said the initiatives could aleviate food and nutrition insecurity in the country. However, he said food and nutrition insecurity was prevalent in the country and that it might indicate poor communication amongst all stakeholders. 

“Perhaps what is required is for all stakeholders to join efforts and work together to create sustainable agri-food production systems,” he said, adding that combined and coordinated efforts could create sustainable and resilient agri-food production systems.

Prof. Mosepele also said lack of access to finance contributed to food and nutrition insecurity, adding that other factors that impeded food production included fragmentation, misalignment and uncoordinated response from stakeholders in the agri-food production system.

He urged all stakeholders to collaborate and leverage on each other’s strengths and to strategically tripartite between policy makers, the private sector and academia towards food and nutrition security for the benefit of Batswana. He argued that it was the only vibrant approach to ensure that the country was food and nutrition secure. 

“Collaboration is central to our efforts to achieve food nutrition security,” he said, adding that they could leverage on BUAN’s expertise, FAO’s global support and government’s resources to reverse the food and nutrition insecurity challenges.

World Food Day, he said, provided a platform to address food and nutrition insecurity as well as to explore how to collectively work towards a resilient and sustainable agri-food system that guaranteed every person’s right to food. Ends