New ways to fight hunger sought

• Women should be trained as they play key role in putting food on the table

Food security experts meet in Nairobi on Wednesday to map out new ways of keeping hunger at bay.

Recognising the key role women play in tackling hunger in many households, the one-day event at the Hilton Hotel will explore ways of making them key decision-makers to stave hunger, said Mr Frank Tugwell, president and chief executive officer of Winrock International, the NGO hosting the event.

Crop yields

The theme of the conference is A 21st Century Framework for Food Security in Africa and will be attended by experts from various regions of the continent to discuss best practices aimed at increasing crop yields in the face of declining production and a rising population.

“The experts will be keen to recommend policy changes that will enable small-holder farmers to produce more food and get it to the market,” Mr Tugwell said on Tuesday at a press briefing in Nairobi.

“We’ll be there (Wednesday’s meeting) to listen to African experts and what they have to say on various food security issues,” he said.

Describing food security as an integrated issue, Mr Tugwell said efforts to end perennial food shortages in the continent must pay attention to such other issues as climate change, agricultural produce value chain and world market forces.

“If we’re to have food security, women empowerment is part of the solution,” he said.

Population displacements pose a challenge on how to address food insecurity, argued Mr David Norman, Winrock vice-president in charge of enterprise and agriculture.

This was the case during the 2008 poll violence in which hundreds of tonnes of food were destroyed. Displaced people were also unable to cultivate their farms.

Due to last year’s devastating drought and crop failure, it is predicted that food shortages will hit the country by May, resulting in the rallying of food prices.

More than 10 million people are in dire need of relief assistance.

Mr Norman said there was need for improving the agricultural value chain focused on small-scale farmers.

“Ideas on understanding how we deal with technology changes in agriculture will be among many to be shared tomorrow (Wednesday),” he said.

Dr Boniface Kaberia, programme manager for Winrock’s Partnership for Safe Poultry in Kenya project, noted that there was increasing interest to make the poultry sub-sector attractive.

Renewed focus

“There is renewed focus to make poultry farming a commercial enterprise so that poor households can increase their earnings,” he said.

Through the programme he runs, poultry farmers are increasing their competitiveness and improving their ability to cope with avian influenza and other poultry diseases.