3.4bn world population suffer hunger, malnourished – Expert

An expert, the Head Agriculture Division, ECOWAS Commission, Dr. Mr Ernest Aubee, has said half of the world’s population are not well fed, while 3.4 billion suffer hunger, malnutrition and obesity.

Aubee made the assertion recently during an online presentation on the `Agro-ecology way to ensuring food security and sustaining the environment’, organised by Journalists Go Organic Initiative.

He described agro-ecology as the application of the science of ecology to agricultural systems that seeks to develop an ecological structure that does not need external inputs.

He noted that agro-ecology practice allows the necessary interaction among species for the system to work better.

Aubee, who is in charge of Food and Nutrition Security programmes at the ECOWAS Commission frowned at the rise in global hunger and malnutrition, attributing the rise to limited food security.

“Even with the global rise in hunger and malnutrition, about 33-40 per cent of the food produced in agro-industrial chains is still wasted in production, transport or thrown away.

“Poor agricultural productivity, poor management of agro-ecological resources for agricultural production, over-reliance on non-renewable resources for agricultural production leads to shortage of food.

“Other limitations include poor funding of the agricultural sector, inadequate knowledge on agro-ecological management, poor institutional capacity, coordination and networking and linkage between farmers and research institutions as well as climate change effects.’’

He called for right policies and implementation strategies to be able to develop Ecological Organic Agriculture (EOA) in West African Region.