African governments have been challenged to commit to invest 10 percent of their national budgets to agriculture, to overcome the global food crisis. If this is applied, it will be a step towards meeting the first Millennium Development Goal of halving poverty and hunger by 2015.

The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) estimates that at least $14 billion (Shs23.8 trillion) per annum is needed to address this challenge. In Sub-Saharan Africa, the annual additional investment is estimated to be about $5 billion (Shs8.5 trillion).

Mr Joachim von Braun, IFPRI director general in his remarks about the 2008 Global Hunger Index report released ahead of the 'World Food Day' which is marked on October 16 said: "Priorities for action at the national and global level must address the immediate food needs of poor people priced out of food markets".

"At the same time, national governments and the global community should begin to correct previous failures in agricultural policy by investing in agriculture and food production, setting up reliable systems for assisting the most vulnerable people in a timely way, and establishing a fair global trading system and a conducive investment environment," Braun said.

He added that the strategic way forward must be facilitated by international cooperation and guided by strong global governance architecture of agriculture, food, and nutrition.

"To substantially improve food security in the 21st century, changes need to be made now," he added. In Uganda, this financial year, government has earmarked a total of Shs50 billion as credit guarantees for banks that lend for agriculture.

Government also provided tax exemptions to encourage enterprises to go into agricultural processing in rural areas and tax exemptions were provided to encourage investment in the construction of hotels, hospitals and educational institutions.

To address the current food crisis and improve the long-term functioning of the world food system, IFPRI recommends productivity and research, which undertake fast-impact food production programmes in key areas and scale up investments for sustained agricultural productivity, including agricultural science policy and appropriate finance.

Another recommendation is nutrition and social protection, which expands emergency responses and humanitarian assistance to food-insecure people and invest in social protection for nutritional improvement.

In terms of markets and trade recommendations demand elimination of agricultural trade restrictions and facilitate rule-based and fair global and regional trade openness; change biofuel policies; support market-oriented regulation of speculation, and implement innovative virtual grain reserve policies.