Early Warning Systems in Food Security: Tackling the Hunger Problem in Sub-Saharan Africa

Despite the world leaders’ commitment to halve the number of undernourished people by 2015, its absolute number has been on the rise even more compared to the years of 1990-1992. Once again, this actual increase has alarmed the policy makers about the complicated nature of food security. In their effort to ensure food security, the national and international community, has relied on external food aid programs that have shown to be unexpectedly more harmful than remedial for the country and its people. A better approach to food security is that of local empowerment in production, storage and monitoring of food availability, access and utilization. In sub-Saharan Africa, where the proportion of undernourished is the highest globally, the effects of climate change are expected to intensify the already fragile situation in food supply and demand chain. Consequently, anticipatory monitoring systems, such as early warning systems, for both climate and agriculture have been developed since 1970 and constantly evolving. These systems, locally and globally, collect and analyze data for timely and effective warning at the farm and household level as well as national and international levels. The rise in the proportion of undernourished people in addition to many famine related tragedies including the latest food crisis in the Horn of Africa, casts doubt on the effectiveness of early warning systems. A review of early warning systems locally and globally indicates that their high efficiency in predicting “hot spots” is not paired with the adequate response from stakeholders and this is the most critical piece of the food security puzzle that needs to be analyzed and targeted in our fight against hunger.