The SOFI 2025 report — “The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World” — reveals a brutal reality: in 2024, more than 735 million people went hungry, most of them in the Global South, with Africa emerging as the epicenter of the global food crisis.

Although there has been a slight improvement globally, the scourge of hunger worsened in Africa and the Middle East in 2024. Currently, more than 300 million Africans face hunger, and the worst is yet to come.

In the corridors of international conferences, at UN summits, and in the air-conditioned halls of multilateral organizations, hunger is discussed as if it were an abstract problem. But on the dusty ground of African villages, in the barren fields of Gaza, in the outskirts of Luanda, and in the refugee camps of Sudan, hunger has a name, a face, a thin, wasting body.

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The year 2024 ended with a sign of hope. According to the report " The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World " (SOFI 2025), produced by the five specialized agencies of the United Nations — FAO, IFAD, UNICEF, WFP and WHO — the total number of people suffering from hunger decreased slightly compared to previous years.

However, behind this number lie opposing realities. Africa and the Middle East are rapidly heading toward a silent tragedy. In 2024, between 673 and 720 million people will face hunger. This estimate represents about 8,2% of the global population—a slight decrease from the 8,5% in 2023 and the 8,7% recorded in 2022.

The reduction, while modest, is significant and is primarily due to improvements in South Asia, particularly India, as well as in some regions of Latin America. In the latter, undernourishment fell by 5,1%, meaning 34 million fewer people are hungry. But while the world celebrates small advances, Africa and the Middle East face a brutal regression.

UN data is unequivocal: on the African continent, hunger affected more than 307 million people in 2024, equivalent to more than 20% of the population. One in five people in Africa does not have enough food to live. In the Middle East, approximately 39 million people, or 12,7% of the population, faced the same situation during the same period.

The SOFI 2025 report highlights that hunger in these regions is exacerbated by multiple simultaneous crises: prolonged armed conflicts, economic instability, extreme climate change, and a global food system that continues to penalize lower-income countries.

Armed Conflicts

One of the most devastating factors for food security in Africa and the Middle East has been the direct impact of armed conflicts.

Countries such as Sudan, Yemen, Ethiopia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Palestine are living under prolonged states of emergency, in which the destruction of infrastructure, the blockage of trade routes and the forced displacement of populations make food production or distribution impossible.

The case of the Gaza Strip is particularly dramatic. In 2024, the entire population of the Palestinian enclave—more than 1,1 million people—faced extreme levels of acute food insecurity. According to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), Gaza reached the maximum level (Phase 5 – Catastrophe), with twice as many people affected compared to 2023.

Local reports indicate more than 120 deaths from hunger or malnutrition, including children, since the start of the Israeli offensive in October 2023, a situation that has worsened this year. In sub-Saharan Africa, ongoing conflicts in Sudan, Nigeria, and the Sahel region are exacerbating food shortages, forcing millions to flee their homes and rely on humanitarian aid.

International organizations warn that, in these areas, the collapse of local agricultural production is practically irreversible without massive and sustained investment.

Climate Crisis

Another determining factor in the escalation of hunger in Africa is the intensification of climate change. Prolonged droughts, extreme floods, and soil degradation particularly affect smallholder farmers, who account for up to 70% of food production on the continent.

According to the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), more than 80% of smallholder farmers live below the poverty line. These farmers receive less than 1% of global climate finance, when they would need around €70 billion per year to ensure the survival of their production systems.

“Africa imports between 70 and 80 billion euros worth of food every year.”

“It is clear that it could be self-sufficient and create millions of local jobs.”

Álvaro Lario, president of IFAD, stated, "This chronic dependence on imports undermines the continent's food sovereignty and exposes the poorest to global market shocks."

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While most countries in the Global North debate solutions to future crises—artificial intelligence, energy transition, green economy—in several African regions the most pressing problem remains the most primitive: access to livelihoods. By 2024, more than 20% of Africans will face hunger.

UN forecasts indicate that this number could exceed 512 million by 2030 if nothing structural is done. This represents nearly one in three Africans. Hunger is not only a humanitarian tragedy, it is also a colossal economic burden.

Malnourished populations have lower cognitive performance, lower productivity, greater vulnerability to disease, and shorter life expectancy. According to the FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization), economic losses caused by hunger, malnutrition, and child stunting can exceed 11% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the most affected countries.

In Angola, for example, more than 38% of children under five show signs of stunting, an irreversible condition associated with chronic malnutrition during early childhood. The consequences are devastating: learning difficulties, a greater propensity to drop out of school, and early entry into the informal labor market.

This panorama is repeated throughout sub-Saharan Africa. In Mozambique, Zambia, Niger, and Somalia, the potential of future generations is being eroded by hunger. And young people, who should be the main force for development, are being pushed into cycles of poverty, forced migration, and violent radicalization.

International Aid

While international humanitarian agencies play a crucial role in immediate famine relief, there is growing criticism of the Western welfare model that perpetuates dependency and undermines African food sovereignty.

The World Food Programme (WFP) distributed millions of tons of food in 2024. But in many regions—especially displacement camps in Sudan, Somalia, and Burkina Faso—food is imported, processed, and packaged outside the continent.

This represents a missed opportunity to strengthen local food chains, support regional farmers, and boost national economies. Furthermore, international aid is often conditioned by geopolitical interests. Countries that don't align with certain external agendas see their aid cut or redirected.

The case of Burkina Faso, which lost a significant portion of its European funding after the 2022 coup, is a glaring example of how aid can be exploited.

Transforming the African food system requires more than donations. Investment is needed. Agricultural infrastructure, post-harvest storage, rural roads, local markets, modern irrigation. All of this is expensive, but it costs less than keeping millions of Africans dependent on humanitarian rations.

Investing in Agriculture

Africa has 65% of the planet's uncultivated arable land. It also boasts the largest freshwater reserves, a growing youth population, and an ancient agricultural tradition. However, it imports up to 80% of its food and produces below its potential.

The SOFI 2025 report warns that food insecurity will continue to rise unless African governments invest massively in rural transformation. In 2024, only 2,9% of total global climate investments were allocated to agriculture in developing countries.

A glaring paradox, considering that agriculture is the sector most vulnerable to climate impacts and the main source of livelihood for more than 60% of the African population.

“We are failing collectively.”

“African smallholder farmers feed hundreds of millions, but remain excluded from finance, technology, and protection against external shocks.”

“Investing in them is the best strategy against hunger, poverty and uncontrolled migration.”

Explained the president of IFAD, Álvaro Lario.

Projection for 2030

The UN has been clear: if the current pace continues, the Zero Hunger target by 2030—one of the main Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)—will not be achieved. Worse still, Africa will be the epicenter of the global food crisis.

The report estimates that by the end of this decade, between 509 and 513 million Africans could be living in chronic malnutrition. This number would represent about 60% of all undernourished people in the world.

The degradation of food systems, unresolved conflicts, rising fertilizer and fuel prices, uncontrolled climate change, and a lack of domestic and international political will are cited as the main causes of this predictable collapse.

A rigged game

Experts warn that the global food system is becoming structurally imbalanced. International trade rules, agricultural subsidies in rich countries, and unfavorable bilateral treaties are blocking the development of fair food markets for African countries.

Meanwhile, Africa continues to be treated as a warehouse for raw materials and a destination market for surplus food from the North. European wheat, Asian rice, Brazilian frozen chicken, North American corn—all at subsidized prices that make competition with local African products unfeasible.

This colonial logic, rooted in international trade agreements and reinforced by multilateral institutions, impedes the continent's food emancipation.

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With more than 500 million Africans projected to live in food insecurity by 2030, the continent is at a point of no return. But tragedy is not inevitable. What's needed are not technical solutions, but political will, moral courage, and strategic investment. It's still possible to avoid collapse, as long as we change course—and quickly.

Real solutions to a preventable problem:

1. Financing family and regenerative agriculture

Smallholder farmers produce about 80% of the food consumed in Africa, but receive less than 10% of available agricultural financing. Prioritizing affordable credit lines, ensuring technical assistance, and investing in agroecological techniques can increase productivity, restore degraded soils, and mitigate the effects of climate change.

2. Rural infrastructure and local markets

Millions of tons of food are lost every year due to a lack of roads, refrigeration systems, and storage. Building basic infrastructure in rural areas would connect producers to urban and regional markets, reducing dependence on imports.

3. Food processing at the local level

Instead of exporting raw materials and importing processed goods at inflated prices, Africa needs to develop its own value chains. Milling, drying, preserving, packaging, and distribution plants at local and regional levels would be drivers of employment and innovation.

4. Reduction of external dependence

A radical reorientation of economic policies is essential. Africa must free itself from its extractive and dependent model by combating unfair agricultural subsidies, renegotiating trade agreements, and strengthening intra-African alliances, such as the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

5. Food education and community power

Hunger isn't just a lack of food—it's also a lack of power. Investing in food education, nutritional sovereignty, and empowering rural and indigenous communities is as important as distributing seeds or fertilizers.

African leaders

While external factors are undeniable, African governments can no longer shirk responsibility. Corruption, mismanagement of public resources, the militarization of national budgets, and the diversion of funds from agriculture to less productive sectors have exacerbated the food crisis.

It is unacceptable that countries with vast agricultural areas and water resources import basic foodstuffs. It is immoral that, in some African countries, ministers travel in private jets while the people dig the land with rusty hoes.

The complicit silence of African political elites in the face of the food catastrophe is as serious as the negligence of the Global North. Hunger will only be eradicated when there is a political and ethical rupture with the current model.

A New Narrative for Africa

The time has come for Africa to rewrite its own food history. This doesn't mean rejecting international cooperation, but rather shaping it to its strategic interests. It means regaining control over its resources, its land, its seeds, its trade, and its nutrition.

It means recognizing that hunger is a political weapon used to subjugate people, manipulate budgets, and justify external interventions to keep Africa on its knees.

We need to abandon the " continent to be saved " complex and adopt the logic of a continent that saves itself — with social justice, endogenous innovation, ancestral wisdom, and pan-African solidarity.