Food Security

The population of East Africa is estimated to around 140 million and growing at an average of 2.5% per annum. This relatively high growth rate coupled with increasing urbanization is straining the available resources for productive agriculture and especially resources to meet the aggregate food requirements at the household level.

Households need to be enabled to acquire enough food either through production, exchange or transfer in order to meet the nutritional needs on a consistent basis. Addressing issues of crop failure, seasonality of production and nutritional insufficiency is therefore as important as value addition to agricultural output in view of diminishing fertility of soils.

The relationship between agricultural productivity, hunger, poverty and sustainable development has long been established. The majority of the people in East Africa are still largely dependent on rain fed agriculture and subsistence farming. Malnutrition and food insufficiency are known to be higher in this kind of populations.

EADB contributes to East Africa’s quest for food security by supporting programmes and practices that enhance agricultural productivity, conserve soil fertility, reduce post-harvest losses, improve nutritional values and ensure market access for both primary and secondary agricultural products.