Cut losses due to poor food storage, Obasanjo urges

African governments need to pay more attention to storage as a means of curbing food shortages, Nigeria’s President Olusegun Obasanjo said on Wednesday at a conference on food security in Africa in the Nigerian capital, Abuja. He said much of Africa's annual harvests was lost as a result of inefficient storage, including half of its fruits and vegetables, one-fifth of its grains and a quarter of its tubers.

The aim of the two-day conference, which Obasanjo opened on Wednesday in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, was to "enhance co-ordination of initiatives and programmes related to agriculture and food security" through partnerships between regional and sub-regional bodies, according to the FAO, which organised the event.

Formerly a major food exporter, Africa has become a net food importer over the years.

FAO Director-General Jacques Diouf said the severity of food insecurity in Africa was underlined by the fact that more than 40 million Africans faced food shortages.

Top officials of continental and regional bodies attended the conference. They included the president of the African Development Bank, Omar Kabbaj, the chairman of the steering committee of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development, Wiseman Nkulu, and the executive secretary of the Economic Community of West African States, Mohammed ibn Chambas.