transcription oral presentation.

Hello, me and roger have done our oral presenation on the hunger in africa,

mi going to start off with a question,,

does anybody know about the situation at the momen in africa??

More than half of Africa is now in need of urgent food assistance.

The UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) is warning that 27 sub-Saharan countries now need help.

But what appear as isolated disasters brought about by drought or conflict in countries like Somalia, Malawi, Niger, Kenya and Zimbabwe are - in reality - systemic problems.

It is African agriculture itself that is in crisis, and according to the information that we know this has left 200 million people malnourished.

It is particularly striking that the FAO highlights political problems such as civil strife, refugee movements and returnees in 15 of the 27 countries it declares in need of urgent assistance. By comparison drought is only cited in 12 out of 27 countries.

Africa's years of wars, coups and civil strife are responsible for more hunger than the natural problems that befall it.

Critical issues

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• Wars and political conflict, leading to refugees and instability.

In 2004 the continent of Africa had suffered from 26 major wars in the past 50 years. It is estimated that there are more than 16 million refugees and displaced persons in Africa.

Farmers need stability and certainty before they can succeed in producing the food their families and societies need.

• HIV/Aids depriving families of their most productive labour.

This is particularly a problem in southern Africa, where over 30% of sexually active adults are HIV positive. According to Oxfam, when a family member becomes infected, food production can fall by up to 60%, as women are not only expected to be carers, but also provide much of the agricultural labour.

Consequences

In 1966-1970, net exports averaged 1.3 million tons of food a year, it states.

"By the late 1970s Africa imported 4.4 million tonnes of staple foods a year, a figure that had risen to 10 million tonnes by the mid 1980s."

It said that since independence, agricultural output per capita remained stagnant, and in many places declined.

Some campaigners and academics argue that African farmers will only be able to properly feed their families and societies when Western goods stop flooding their markets.