More than 10 million people in the Horn of Africa face starvation, according to the United Nations Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). The areas most affected are northern Kenya, south-eastern Ethiopia, southern Somalia and Djibouti.

Special Adviser to the United Nations, Prof Jeffery Sachs, has blamed it on western nations for creating human-induced climate change. On the other hand, while appreciating the British government’s injection of $145 million (90.2 million pound) in humanitarian aid to alleviate the hunger, Randolph Kent, director of the Humanitarian Futures Programme at King’s College in London calls for a new approach as the money will not help prevent the next Horn of Africa drought. 

It is no secret that industrialized nations have played a role in Africa’s hunger by engrossing the continent in fighting issues that are not of priority to Africa. The agri-business community has neglected smallholder farmers by not repackaging their products to accommodate low-budget consumers in rural areas. The UN World Food Program on  one hand is dedicated to fight hunger while, on the other hand, is threatened by unemployment should hunger be eliminated.

African governments must not take the back seat in hunger issues. They must shun their reactionary stance and transform the 70 percent subsistence-farmer population into a society with a substantial middle and upper class. Subsistence farmers ought to be weaned away from the traditional eight-hour, hoe-in-hand farming techniques that yield scant output and be turned into professionals who will adopt modern farming methods such as the use of fertilizers, pesticides, improved seed, and mechanization. African governments must not sacrifice the needs of their people at the altar of  international partnerships.