Africa: Africa's Food Insecurity Eases for First Time in a Decade. The Next Task is Making the Gains Harder to Reverse

What the report says

AllAfrica published a guest column by Maximo Torero, chief economist of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, reporting that Africa saw a modest continent-wide easing in food insecurity in 2025, the first such improvement in about a decade. The article said the hunger rate edged down from 20.3% in 2024 to 20% in 2025, while moderate or severe food insecurity declined from 58.5% to 56.6%, equivalent to 8.6 million fewer people affected. Severe food insecurity and child stunting were also described as falling.

The column argued that the improvement is significant because Africa still faces the world’s largest food security burden. It cited 309 million hungry people on the continent and said Africa is projected to account for 56% of the world’s hungry population by 2030. The article also noted that two in three Africans cannot afford a healthy diet, even as some indicators of hunger have stopped worsening.

Torero attributed longer-term gains in several countries to sustained public systems rather than short-term weather effects, pointing to progress in Senegal, Togo, Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, Rwanda and Mozambique over two decades. He wrote that agricultural research, extension services, veterinary networks, rural roads, market connections and household survey systems have helped build capacity, while warning that conflict-affected countries still rely heavily on outside assistance.

The next challenge, according to the column, is shifting from simply reducing hunger to lowering the cost of nutritious foods such as dairy, eggs, fish, meat, fruits, vegetables and legumes. The piece said governments could get more impact from existing subsidy spending by targeting animal health, aquaculture, cold chains, roads, energy and crop research, while cautioning that funding pressures could threaten future measurement and emergency support.