Food Security of African Small Island Developing States

The food security of African Small Island Developing States (SIDS) is one of the most important economic, social and humanitarian problems. A third of all the world’s hungry will come live on the African continent. The picture is even more acute for the SIDS due to the specifics of their geographical location, the structure of economy, the level of agricultural and food production development. Agriculture accounts for between 36% of GDP in the Comoros and 2.9% in the Seychelles. Along with undernourishment and nutritional deficiencies (“hidden hunger”), this group of countries is characterized by high rates of obesity and overweight. While there are common food security challenges, especially high levels of economic and environmental vulnerability, African SIDS approach them differently. Despite the illusory nature of achieving self-sufficiency in food, they nevertheless adopt government programs aimed at improving the efficiency of agri-food systems. However, some of them only (Seychelles and Mauritius) have government programs or strategies aimed at comprehensively addressing the food security problem. International organizations provide a lot of assistance to ensure food security for the population of African SIDS.

food security, Africa, Small Island Developing States