To have the African continent free of hunger, there is a need to focus on practical work to boost agricultural production instead of speeches that are not implemented.

Dr Patrick Kormawa, the representative of the United Nations ‘Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) , sub-regional office of Eastern Africa and in African Union (AU) made the remarks on Tuesday in Rubavu.

He was addressing FAO representatives in the region during their 10th three-day planning meeting on delivery mechanisms to fight hunger and malnutrition within the region and the whole continent.

"To have the continent without hunger entails practical work; it is moving from what some countries normally talk about in rhetoric to practical work. If you have a country with malnourishment, it is a problem. If children attain the age of five with malnourishment, those children lag behind nine years of their partners and friends in other countries, and people who don’t understand the consequences will not realise that it is catastrophic,” he said.

He explained that the meeting was convened to plan for improving results of their involvement in member States.

He said Rwanda was chosen to host the meeting as one of FAO’s best partners in Africa, where their programmes are implemented and results seen.

"We want the success stories of Rwanda in fighting hunger and malnutrition to be told and have brought some of our staff to see some programmes we can learn from Rwanda and see how to replicate them in other countries in Africa.”

Tony Nsanganira, the State minister for Agriculture said several measures have been taken to stamp out malnutrition in the country.

He said "we have improved in terms of agricultural productivity in the last 10 years as it has improved on an average rate ranging between five and six per cent. But concerning malnutrition we still have a long way to go as its rate stands at 39 per cent. However, measures to address the issue have been taken including the one cow per poor family programme and one cup of milk per child per day among others.”

Attaher Maiga, FAO representative to Rwanda said successful experiences in countries like Rwanda could be replicated to other countries to ease implementation of FAO projects.

He said "FAO supports countries in implementing their priorities to ensure food security. When there is a clear vision and a strong leadership it is very easy for FAO to work in.”

According to FAO, the world produces more than enough food to feed every member of the human family, yet one in nine people do not have enough to eat.

It also states that despite hosting all food production, rural areas also hold the majority of the world’s food insecure people.

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