As African leaders met in Madrid for the 36th African Union Summit, it was revealed that chronic underinvestment in agriculture is a key cause of the widespread hunger experienced in 2022. The majority of African governments spend less than 1% of their budgets on agriculture, while spending 3.8% on arms. This is in stark contrast to countries that are adjacent to Africa, who spend 6.4% of their budgets on arms. The report also stated that food inflation is rising rapidly in all but ten African countries, due to climate change. Fati N'Zi-Hassane, Oxfam in Africa Director, stated that the Malabo Declaration, which stipulated that African governments must spend at least 10% of their budget on agriculture, has not been upheld. The report also warns that as many as 828 million people are facing acute food insecurity.

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