When you are trying to fight the food shortages, do not overlook the natural foods growing wild around you. In particular, be aware of the enormous food value of the Typha (cattail, kachalla, cumbungi, bulrush...) weed, which clogs so many African waterways. If the water and soil it is grown in are clean, Typha is a year-round food source. Typha collects pollutants, and hoards them, so not just any can be eaten. Unless the pollutants are particularly obnoxious (e.g. arsenic, like in Bangladesh) what isn't fit for human consumption can be made into fuel, as can the usually nearby Phragmites reeds, which also collects pollutants, but is harder to extract food from. Harvesting these plants would help you solve many other problems too. The flooding that devastated so much of Africa's rice crop was caused in part by Typha-clogged ditches and reservoirs. The mosquitoes that carry malaria love these plants.

Another part of the solution is local production. Almost any urban home can be a micro-farm, producing some portion of the daily food requirements. Highly productive mini gardens can be almost anywhere, and are rather decorative.