Providing nutritious food and assuring food security for a growing world population is one of the key development challenges of our day. In sub-Saharan Africa, the challenges are particularly acute; some 233 million people are hungry and/or undernourished, according to a 2016 report by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization. Chronic undernourishment affects approximately 30% of the population. That level of hunger is one of the highest in the world. While the reasons for this are complex, they include widespread poverty, poor infrastructure and communications, diseases such as malaria and HIV and civil strife. As a result, the nourishment of a large percentage of African families is dependent principally on what they can grow themselves or buy locally.