TUNIS, June 24 (Xinhua) -- The international conference on engineering and food security in Africa kicked off Monday at the City of Culture in the capital Tunis.
The objective of the two-day conference is to examine the contribution of the various engineering disciplines to the development of agriculture in Africa and the role of technologies in achieving food security and in the evaluation of natural resources.
Speaking at the opening ceremony of the conference, President of the Order of Tunisian Engineers (ILO) Osama Kheriji called on all the engineers of the African continent to make more efforts to identify the appropriate solutions in order to face the big challenges in food security.
"This conference aims to create a platform where the knowledge, innovative ideas and experiences will be discussed, shared and disseminated in order to implement the 'Declaration on Food Security' as viewed by engineers," said Kheriji.
"This declaration will be a scientific and political reference for policy makers in African countries to address the challenges of food security in Africa," added the ILO president.
For his part, Tunisian Minister of Commerce Omar El Behi emphasized the important role of engineers in improving agricultural production to achieve food security.
The event was marked by the participation of representatives of the Federation of African Engineering Organizations, the World Farmers' Organisation, the United Nations Development Program and the World Food Program.
Hunger in Africa continues to rise after many years of decline. According to new data presented in the joint UN report "the Africa Regional Overview of Food Security and Nutrition" released in February 2019, 237 million people in sub-Saharan Africa are suffering from chronic undernutrition.
