A stark new report from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), World Food Programme (WFP), and the African Union Commission paints a troubling picture of deepening hunger across Africa, one that carries significant consequences not just for the continent, but for global stability and food systems.
The report finds that 306 million people in Africa were undernourished in 2024, representing more than 45 percent of the global total.
This marks the eighth consecutive year of rising hunger, underscoring a persistent and worsening crisis.
Broader food insecurity is even more widespread, affecting 892 million people, or nearly six in ten Africans, while 337 million face severe food insecurity.
At the same time, the cost of simply eating well has become increasingly unattainable.
A healthy diet now costs an average of $4.41 (PPP) per person per day, more than double the global extreme poverty benchmark.
As a result, 67 percent of the population, over one billion people—cannot afford a healthy diet, highlighting how the crisis extends beyond poverty into the lower-income middle class.
Despite these alarming trends, investment in agriculture, the backbone of many African economies remains critically low.
The report shows that less than 4 percent of total bank lending goes to agriculture, while foreign direct investment in the sector stays below $2 billion annually.
Development assistance has also fallen short, with under 27 percent directed toward food security and nutrition.
Even where funding is growing, it is far from sufficient.
Africa received $44 billion in climate finance between 2021 and 2022, but this is still a fraction of the $250 billion needed annually to meet climate and food system transformation goals.
The implications extend far beyond Africa.
Rising hunger on the continent threatens to intensify global food price volatility, increase reliance on humanitarian aid, and drive migration pressures and political instability.
Africa’s agrifood systems are deeply linked to global supply chains, meaning persistent underinvestment could disrupt international markets and weaken collective progress toward ending hunger worldwide.
Moreover, the crisis poses a direct challenge to achieving Sustainable Development Goal 2, a cornerstone of the global development agenda.
With Africa already off track, failure to act decisively could derail broader international commitments on poverty, health, and climate resilience.
The report calls for a dramatic scale-up in financing, alongside reforms to unlock private investment, expand credit access, and better support small and medium-sized agricultural enterprises.
It emphasizes that transforming Africa’s agrifood systems is not just a regional priority, but a global necessity, one that will shape food security, economic stability, and human well-being in the decades ahead.
