Experts meet in Kampala to assess EAC food insecurity

Food experts from the seven East Africa countries are to converge in Kampala for the 18th annual Multidisciplinary Team (MDT) meeting.

The meeting aims to assess the gravity of food insecurity in the region and also share solutions to the challenge.

This is because the 2024 Global Report on Food Crises, with a focus on the IGAD region (Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, and Uganda), underscores a worsening food insecurity crisis.

According to the report, over the past five years, acute food insecurity has risen steadily, highlighting an urgent need for coordinated action to address growing humanitarian needs.

The three-day meeting that will be opened by Uganda’s agriculture minister, Frank Tumwebaze, at Speke Resort Munyonyo starts tomorrow, November 12, 2024 and ends two days after.

According to a FAO media advisory, the MDT meeting will focus on identifying strategic investments, operational, programmatic, advocacy, and capacity-building ideas that will strengthen FAO’s role as a reliable partner for member states and development actors.

“Eastern Africa is a subregion of stark contrasts. While it offers significant business opportunities for global entrepreneurs and investors, it remains a hotspot for drought and severe food insecurity,” noted the press advisory from FAO Uganda.

They add that MDT meetings organised by FAO Subregional Officer for Eastern Africa conduct such meetings to review FAO's work and collaboratively develop integrated, sustainable solutions to the region’s challenges.

The meeting that will be held under the theme “Addressing the Growing Number of Food-Insecure People in Eastern Africa through Scalable Transformative Investments across the 4 Betters,” will be attended by Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, and Somalia.