This article originally appeared on the All Africa website

Africa Director, ONE.org, Dr. Sipho Moyo, has said that even though there is no longer famine in South Somalia, millions of people in Africa were still at risk.

Reacting to the United Nations (UN) announcement that “Famine outcomes no longer existed in Southern Somalia”, she said, ” these eight words are not yet a cause for celebration as conditions were still extremely fragile and without concrete action, famine could once again return.

In a statement signed by the director and made available to LEADERSHIP she stated that,” I’ve been shocked by the recent images of suffering that we have seen from Somalia. In just 3 months 30,000 children have died. This figure is so large it’s hard to comprehend, let alone think about how behind this number are countless stories of human tragedy”.

According to Sipho investing in agriculture was one of the best ways to reduce extreme poverty. With access to suitable seeds, technologies, and improved connections to markets, small-holder farmers can generate more income, send their children to school, help to keep food prices affordable and contribute to lifting their communities out of poverty for the long-term.

In a petition to African leaders to make this the last famine , ONE requested that African leaders should support the delivery of promised emergency aid, increase effort on peace and security, and keep the long-term promise toward spending 10% of national budgets on agriculture and food security.

The petition asserted that if previous promises had been kept we could have avoided much of the terrible human cost of the last few months. “Governments must now make good on their commitments”, she said.