Beating Famine in Southern Africa conference, Lilongwe Malawi 13th to 17th April 2015

1. AFRICAN UNION UNION AFRICAINE
UNIÃO AFRICANA
Addis Ababa, ETHIOPIA P. O. Box 3243 Telephone 517 700 Cables: OAU,
ADDIS ABABA
Statement on behalf of the
Her Excellency Tumusiime Rhoda Peace
Commissioner, Department for Rural Economy and Agriculture
African Union Commission,
At the Beating Famine in Southern Africa conference, Lilongwe Malawi 13th to
17th April 2015

2. Hon. Dr Allan Chiyembekeza M.P– Minister of Agriculture, water, Irrigation of the Republic
of Malawi
All the Diplomatic Corp present
All key stakeholders Representatives of Development Partners,
Distinguished Guests, Participants, Ladies and Gentlemen,
On behalf of the African Union Commission and my own behalf, I am honoured
that I was invited to participate and talk in this very important and timely forum
around the fundamental issue pertaining to Famine and hunger in Southern Africa and
the entire continent at a time when the “eyes of the World is on Africa for very positive as
well as not so positive reasons.
Africa, is entrapped in famine, malnutrition, hunger and poverty when it is endowed with
all the natural and human resources.
I am very pleased to note that this paradox is one of the motivation for this forum, for we
know we can change the situation “in-situ”
I wish to commend the Organizer of the event, especially the Government and People of
Malawi for accepting to host us in this magnificent architectural prowess. I thanks you all.
Your Excellencies, Esteemed Guests and Ladies and Gentlemen.
The theme of this conference rhymes with the AU’s and global themes, events The theme
rhymes well with the Malabo declaration of June 2014, the Resolution of the AU joint
conference of ministers of Agriculture and Fisheries, the adoption of the
implementation strategy and roadmap to achieve the 20125 vision of the CAADP
aimed at ending hunger in Africa, the 2015 development theme “Women
empowerment and Development towards the achievement of Agenda 2063, just to
name these ones. At the global level we migrating from MDGs to SDGs, preparing for
the COP 21 conference on Climate change in Paris and the UNCCD COP 12 in
Turkey. The forum came at the right time, thank you.
Excellencies, Esteemed Guests and Ladies and Gentlemen.

3. Permit me to take you back to the principal theme of this conference, “Beating famine out
Famine is real, I mean famine is real in Africa and Southern Africa. Many will not believe
this, a lot of efforts have been employed aimed at “beating famine” millions of people are
now able to eat, but a lot more are still unable to do. Look at the recent statistics, over 14
million are affected by famine in southern Africa alone, of the over 900 million starving
people in the world. And here in Malawi the news is not good, as maize production,
principal food, dropped by more than 30%. Starving is widespread in Africa, and you will
not imagine the consequences on the development of this continent, referred to globally
as the “last frontier in human Development. Children are simply dying and those that
live are suffering from stunted growth and all forms of diseases, families and communities
are displaced due to Natural Resource Insecurity and conflicts of all forms are
created. How many people die in Africa due to famine annually, “MILLIONS and we are
still counting”
The IRONY in all these is that the root causes of famine is very well known, we know
that Famine is caused by both man-made and natural factors , but mostly man
made. The Human being never learn, from the experience of others , what is wrong
with humanity by the way Lack of innovation, business as usual approaches, lack of
engagement by National governments, resistant to change of eating habits and out dated
agricultural systems in a fast changing natural systems and increasing population and
urbanization are amongst the root causes. This is not “rocket science” Another
fundamental factor which is still very persistent despite a lot of efforts is the inequality
existing in access to resources between the Man, Woman and the youths. Women and
youths make up more than 65 -70% of the entire population in Africa, and performs the
bulk of the hard work but have very little access to resources that can enable them to
contribute to their full potential to the challenge of famine, malnutrition and hunger etc.
(Please, let me not go further into this topic, it can become explosive).
All the above factors are responsible for the widespread land degradation,
<desertification> climate change, leading to Crop failures, poor harvesting, exacerbated
by the increasing pressure on land due land use and land use changes.

4. Your Excellencies, Esteemed Guests and Ladies and Gentlemen.
In the face of all these challenges and seeming dire situation, the future of food security
is “bright “and beating famine in Africa as a whole is very possible, considering the
positives steps and innovation that’s on going.
At the level of the farmers: Innovation in famine systems, conservation agriculture, ever
green and Smart Agriculture, Agroforestry and other related approaches have proven it.
Heroes like Yacouba Sawadego from Burkina Faso have shown us that it is possible to
stop land degradation thus stopping the advancement of the desert and re-creating a
community through indigenous knowledge, Chris Reij (WRI) can tell us more.
We can Beat famine with Ever-green agricultural approaches, and all types of
conservation agriculture methods, I dare you to say the contrary to Ambassador Garrity
and he will give to you by proofing that it works. Systems like “Farmer-Managed Natural
Regeneration”, farmer school programmes, Mention it to Tony Simons, and his ICRAF
they will demonstrate and show that it works. And we say we cannot not beat famine?
just look at the opportunity presented by the Internet ICT, just imagine the transformative
potential of the Social Tweeter, Facebook, viber, whats up, talking and “gossiping” on
what’s happening here to people millions of people, millions of KM away, this is a huge
opportunity that we can harness to give Famine a Beating
Excellencies distinguished, Ladies and Gentlemen,
The willingness of the head of States and governments in Africa, to beat famine through
Innovative and SMART land regeneration is at its PEAK. We are aware of the CAADP,
with the MALABO Declaration, the Resolution of the Joint Ministerial conference to stop
HUNGER by 2025. The adoption of the theme “Empowerment of the Woman towards
AGENDA 2063 clearly portraits this willing. To be more concrete, and put Action to
Polices, the AUC created of a women empowerment Unit under the office of the
chairperson in collaboration with UNDPUN-Women, to advocate and reinforce and build
the capacity of African women and Youths in Agri business and agriculture. The land

5. policy initiative, the Disaster Risks Reduction, are all part of the Efforts to Land
regeneration and building resilience to Climate Change.
Another concrete example is the flagship programme to combat land degradation and
build resilience to Climate change, The Great Green Wall for the Sahara and Sahel
Initiative, this PAN AFRICAN initiative have demonstrated that when political will is
blended with concrete action, When National Governments, Regional Economic
Communities work together towards a common goal, coordinating our efforts, applying
common methods and sharing our Best practices, we can achieve a lot.
Let me take this opportunity to invite you all to the side- event organize within the
framework of this initiative, to look at the possibility of replicating it in the Dry lands of
Southern Africa.
The Doors of the African Union Commission to support all these initiative, to provide the
political leadership.
Your Excellencies, ladies and Gentlemen
I trust that the outcome of the this forum shall go a long way towards contributing to the
global efforts to achieving SUSTAINABLE FOOD SECURITY THROUGH LAND
REGENERATION IN CHANGING CLIMATE especially looking at the Calibre of the
Participants
Remember this, Nature doesn’t Need Humans to survive, humans Need NATURE
at each second of our lives. Let’s adapt to Nature, before it completely adapts to
our restless behavior by completely wiping us out.
I thank you very