Luís A. Cardoso^1,, Jorge Ferrão², Tito H. Fernandes³

The changeable history of the fight against hunger is as old as humanity whose populations had to adapt again and again to changing environmental conditions, epidemics and other adversities. For the first time since the beginnings of agriculture, humanity now has the means at its disposal to overcome world hunger. Malnutrition remains one of Sub-Saharan Africa's most fundamental challenges for improved human development. It is important to recognize the links between malnutrition, poverty and, at the aggregate level, broad economic growth and national development, namely agrarian production. Presently one person in four goes hungry. In Sub-Saharan Africa, the modest progress achieved in recent years up to 2007 was reversed, with hunger rising 2% per year since then. Progress towards the Millennium Development Goals 1 (MDG 1) target, is assessed not only by measuring undernourishment, or hunger, but also by a second indicator – the prevalence of underweight children under five years of age. A vast amount of International Organizations deal with this subject and publish comprehensive reports not only on estimates on the progress already achieved, but also identifying remaining problems, providing guidance on which policies should be emphasized in the future. However, their targets remain almost unchanged. The aim of the present short review is to enhance the need for improved agriculture productivity and trading systems closely related with persistent malnutrition.

malnutrition, undernourishment, food insecurity, trading systems