Hunger in Africa has worsened with an almost 50 percent increase in those considered undernourished compared to 2014, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization FAO and other agencies.
A new report says the number going hungry in Africa reached more than 282 million in 2020 -- more than one-fifth of the population -- an increase of 89 million compared to just six years earlier.
The coronaviruses have caused economic downturns between 2019 and 2020, with economic downturns blamed for exacerbating the chief causes of hunger.
According to a report on food security and nutrition released by the FAO, the African Union and the UN Economic Commission for Africa, hunger has worsened significantly over the continent after a long period of improvement between 2000 and 2013.
The report looked at trends between 2014 and 2020 but the picture was expected to be worse in 2021, with no easing of hunger's main drivers. The prevalence of undernourishment was worst in eastern, western and central parts of the continent.
The world is set to miss the UN's goal of eradicating hunger by 2030, with Africa accounting for 55 percent of the global rise in the number of undernourished people over the reporting period.
Conflict and climate change were identified as the two main drivers of the increase in hunger, with the unaffordability of healthy diets and underlying problems such as poverty and inequality also playing a part.
The international community should provide aid to countries in need in the short term but also invest in agriculture and other related sectors to build resilience against climate extremes in the future, as the onset of economic hardship from the Covid 19 pandemic added to the already existing challenges.