Dr. Ildephonse Musafiri said the Kampala CAADP Declaration could help cut malnutrition, stunting and wasting across Africa over the next 10 years, if African countries turn the pledge into action. He made the remarks at the 17th Africa Day for Food and Nutrition Security in Nairobi, where the debate centered on how to turn food and nutrition commitments into measurable gains.
He set out the scale of the challenge in plain terms: Africa still has more than 310 million people who are hungry. Musafiri said the goal is to bring malnutrition, stunting and wasting among the African population to less than 30 per cent in the next 10 years of the Kampala Declaration, while also cutting post-harvest loss by 50%.
Nairobi and the Kampala Declaration
Musafiri linked the new targets to the Kampala CAADP Declaration on Building Resilient and Sustainable Agrifood Systems, saying implementation is what will determine whether the promises reach households that face food insecurity. He also said the continent wants to increase production by 45% in the next 10 years, pairing higher output with healthier diets rather than treating those goals as separate tracks.
The Africa Day for Food and Nutrition Security was declared by African Union Heads of State and Government at their 15th Ordinary Session in Kampala, Uganda, with October 30 set aside as the continental day for food and nutrition security. That history gives the current discussion a longer arc: Kampala is not just the name attached to the declaration, but the place where the policy line on food and nutrition security was first formalized.
Water, production and food loss
Musafiri said the meeting theme was “Harnessing Sustainable Water for Resilient Agrifood Systems, Nutrition Security and Inclusive Prosperity in Africa,” and tied it to a basic operational shift: Africa is well endowed with water, yet much of agriculture still depends on rain. His argument was that sustainable use of water could help the continent move from rain-fed agriculture to irrigated agriculture, which would support more reliable production and better use of land and seasons.
He also said water matters beyond the field because it is needed for food production, hygiene and cooking. That puts the Kampala Declaration’s targets into a practical frame: reducing losses after harvest, lifting output, and improving the way food is handled and consumed all sit on the same chain, and weak coordination anywhere in that chain leaves hunger and poor nutrition in place.
AUDA-NEPAD and next steps
Musafiri, who is Special Advisor to the AUDA-NEPAD CEO on Agriculture and Food Systems, called for better coordination among players in the agriculture and food value chain and said partners, governments and relevant institutions keep meeting to assess what is working and what needs correction. He said Africa has to “break the vicious cycle of hunger, malnutrition and poverty,” and paired that with a warning that food availability alone is not enough if diets remain poor.
For African readers, the practical question now is whether the next 10 years of the Kampala Declaration will be organized around the same three pressure points Musafiri named: lower post-harvest loss, higher production and wider access to healthy food. Those targets are clear; the work that turns them into results will decide whether the declaration changes conditions in fields, stores and kitchens across Africa.
