US to Tap Traditional African Crops to Solve Food Insecurity
- Initiative to identify, invest in nutritious African crops
- More than 280 million Africans experiencing hunger: UN
Reducing Africa’s reliance on global food imports would make the continent more resilient to external shocks and curb hunger.
Photographer: Xaume Olleros/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
The US is launching a new initiative to identify and invest in climate adaptation for Africa’s most nutritious crops in a bid to deal with growing hunger on the continent.
The program, announced by the US State Department together with the United Nations’s Food and Agriculture Organization and the African Union on Wednesday, will seek to identify crops in Africa’s five sub-regions that have historically not attracted research and investment. It will also assess how they will be affected by extreme climates.