African countries this week joined hands to commemorate Africa Day of Food and Nutrition Security, which is observed every year on 30 October. The day is meant to raise awareness on the importance of food and nutrition security across the continent and to reflect on progress made in ensuring that every African has access to sufficient and nutritious food. The commemoration also serves as a reminder of Africa’s ongoing struggle with hunger, inequality, and the effects of climate change on agriculture and livelihoods.
The African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, through its Working Group on Climate Change and Children’s Rights, said the day presents an opportunity for governments to assess whether citizens, especially children, have access to healthy food and adequate nutrition.
The Committee recalled that the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child calls on states to ensure that every child is well-nourished and protected from malnutrition. It said that while progress has been made, the increasing threat of climate change is reversing the gains achieved in food security across Africa. Droughts and floods have become more frequent and severe, affecting food production, access to water, and health systems.
The United Nations has reported that Africa has experienced the highest number of droughts globally over the past century. Between 2000 and 2019, droughts affected more than 1.4 billion people, with 134 droughts recorded in Africa alone. Seventy of these occurred in East Africa. According to research by Save the Children, children born in 2020 could face three times as many droughts and crop failures as previous generations. Rising carbon emissions, heatwaves, and soil degradation have made agricultural production less reliable. Climate experts have warned that by 2050, climate change could lead to about 250,000 additional deaths every year from malnutrition, malaria, and heat stress.
The effects of climate change, combined with political instability, conflict, and global economic pressures, have increased hunger and poverty in both urban and rural areas. Cyclones such as Freddy, which struck parts of Southern Africa in 2023, destroyed crops and infrastructure, worsening food insecurity. Many African countries continue to depend heavily on food imports, which are affected by global price increases and supply chain disruptions.
In South Africa, the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) joined the rest of the continent in marking the Africa Food and Nutrition Security Day 2025 under the theme “Boosting Intra-African Trade in Agricultural Commodities and Services.” The party said the day should be used to reflect on the causes of hunger and malnutrition in Africa.
EFF national spokesperson Sinawo Thambo said the continent’s food crisis is not a result of scarcity but of inequality, dispossession, and underdevelopment. “Africa has the land, water, and people to feed itself, yet millions go hungry every day because of historic injustices and continued exploitation,” Thambo said.
He said more than 60% of the world’s uncultivated arable land lies in Africa, but over 250 million Africans face hunger and malnutrition. In South Africa, less than 10% of arable land is owned by Black people, which the EFF says is a continuation of colonial and apartheid land policies. “Across the continent, vast areas of fertile soil have been leased or sold to foreign investors while local communities remain hungry and jobless,” Thambo said.
The EFF said that expropriation of land without compensation is necessary to restore food sovereignty and dignity to African people. The party argues that without addressing land ownership and agricultural productivity, Africa will continue to depend on imported food. Thambo said that true independence will only be achieved when African nations control their land, produce their own food, and trade among themselves.
He added that increasing trade between African countries is critical to solving hunger and building resilience. Africa imports close to 80 billion US dollars’ worth of food every year, despite its capacity to feed its people. Only 15% of Africa’s total trade happens within the continent, which remains the lowest rate of regional trade in the world.
Thambo said that through the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), the continent has an opportunity to create regional agricultural value chains that link farmers, manufacturers, and distributors across borders. He said Africa’s food revolution depends on better infrastructure, such as roads, railways, and storage facilities, to make trade between African countries easier and cheaper.
Thambo said the EFF supports efforts by the African Union to promote intra-African trade, free movement of goods, and regional cooperation. He said food sovereignty begins with land reform, investment in agriculture, and political will to prioritise African people over foreign interests. Hunger, he said, is not a natural disaster but the result of political and economic choices that can be changed through unity, fairness, and commitment to African self-reliance.
