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| 'One-third of Africa's population on brink of starvation' |
| Press Trust of India / Nairobi Jan 15, 2010, 16:54 IST |
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More than one third of the population in Africa is on the brink of starvation, says a latest study by the African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF).
"This state of affairs can be attributed to the current methods being used in growing food crops," said Daniel Mataruka, executive director of AATF.
The use of traditional seeds given the changing climate is counter-productive, he said at a training workshop for science journalists at the Internal Livestock Research Institute in Kabete.
Mataruka added that genetically enhanced seeds could hold key to unlocking the potential for Africa to feed itself.
"Food production on the continent is not sustainable, given the ever increasing population in Africa that now tops 700 million people, yet the drought and floods are still persistent making it difficult for governments and people to keep up the pace of producing enough to feed the population," he said.
Mataruka called for a paradigm shift in the way food is grown and produced on the continent if Africa was to feed itself.
For a long time, African farmers and consumers had refused to embrace technology to help them to better their agricultural productivity, he noted, adding that politicians and civil societies had been against the introduction of biotechnology in food production.
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