The 2025 version of the Africa Regional Overview of Food Security and Nutrition finds that Africa remains off-track to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 2 (Zero Hunger), with hunger, food insecurity, and malnutrition continuing to rise across the continent. More than 300 million Africans were undernourished in 2024, while nearly 60 percent of the population experienced moderate or severe food insecurity. The report attributes this deterioration to climate shocks, conflicts, economic vulnerabilities, high food prices, low agricultural productivity, and inadequate financing for agrifood systems transformation. It emphasizes that the rising cost of a healthy diet is making nutritious food increasingly unaffordable for many households.

The Report highlights the need for Uganda to accelerate agricultural transformation under NDP-IV by prioritizing investments in climate-smart agriculture, irrigation, agricultural research, extension services, storage infrastructure, and agro-industrialization. Nationally, child stunting remains above 23 percent, while agriculture continues to employ about 64 percent of the labour force, underscoring the importance of agrifood systems in livelihoods and welfare. Despite Uganda's position as a regional food basket, food and nutrition security continue to be constrained by low farm productivity, climate shocks, post-harvest losses, child malnutrition, and limited access to affordable nutritious foods.

Three priority actions emerge for Uganda: (i) scale up investments in climate-smart agriculture and irrigation to reduce weather-related production risks; (ii) strengthen food systems by expanding agro-processing, storage, and market infrastructure to reduce losses and improve farmer incomes; and (iii) integrate nutrition-sensitive interventions into agricultural, health, education, and social protection programmes to address malnutrition and improve the affordability of healthy diets. These actions are critical for sustaining Uganda's role as a regional food basket while improving national food and nutrition security outcomes.

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