Sections
Poll: Budget distortion
Do you support the moves by Presidency through the Supreme Court to prevent the National Assembly from distorting 2009 budget?
‘Food crisis may roll-back African progress’
Font size:
Kofi Annan, former Secretary-General of United Nations (UN) has expressed concern over the effect of the ‘world food crisis’ on Africa even as he stressed the need for developed countries to support with major new investments to accelerate growth in agriculture and sustain ongoing economic recovery.
Annan who gave the charge in Austria at the conference on “Forging a Uniquely African Green Revolution” warned that the unfolding “food crisis may roll-back the progress that has been achieved by African countries in the last decade.”
“The solution to the food crisis in Africa today is to stimulate a domestic supply response to raise food production. If ever there was a time for an African Green Revolution, it is now. The time for talk is over.
“We must implement immediate solutions for today’s crisis, and do so in the context of a long-term concerted effort to transform smallholder agriculture, to increase productivity and sustainability, and end poverty and hunger.”
Annan who emphasised the need for developed countries and experts to renew their partnership with African countries urged them “to work together to turn things around on this continent,” and that the collaboration should not be limited “only in seminars and discussion rooms but action on the ground”.
The former UN scribe also called on European governments to “follow suit” after former US President, George Bush’s announcement of new financial aid for African agricultural development, in addition to emergency food aid however urged them to “engage with the farmers” in the process.
Annan who lamented over the effect of food climate change in the continent argued that “National grain reserves are very, very low and people are asking, “Where is the maize?” In some places, people are eating seed set aside for planting, seed that has been fumigated with fungicide.
“The reason for this situation is easily explained. Cereal yields in Africa are one-quarter theworld average. As a result, an estimated 200 million people – one third of Africa’s population are hungry.
“This is not acceptable. It is time for Africa to produce its own food and attain self-sufficiency in food production. There is no reason why Africa cannot join the league of net-food exporting regions.”
Also speaking at the conference, Louis Michel, EU Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid, warned that the emergency food aid, however vital in the short term, “does not provide any response to the structural and chronic causes” of the food security problem.
Michel pointed out that the Commission had already doubled its support for the rural development sector (from €650m to €1.2bn) and had also revised its aid programmes to align them more closely with African Union’s Comprehensive African Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP).
He noted that “food aid often causes perverse phenomena such as dependency or turmoil in the markets, which have the effect of destroying any incentives for agricultural development in the countries that receive it… In the longer term, food security can only be ensured by giving priority to agriculture.”
Participants at the conference noted that many African governments, both individually and working together through the CAADP are already making significant investments in agriculture, without waiting for massive injections of aid from abroad – though in some countries the current high prices of inputs, notably fertilisers, may be holding up progress.
Annan who gave the charge in Austria at the conference on “Forging a Uniquely African Green Revolution” warned that the unfolding “food crisis may roll-back the progress that has been achieved by African countries in the last decade.”
“The solution to the food crisis in Africa today is to stimulate a domestic supply response to raise food production. If ever there was a time for an African Green Revolution, it is now. The time for talk is over.
“We must implement immediate solutions for today’s crisis, and do so in the context of a long-term concerted effort to transform smallholder agriculture, to increase productivity and sustainability, and end poverty and hunger.”
Annan who emphasised the need for developed countries and experts to renew their partnership with African countries urged them “to work together to turn things around on this continent,” and that the collaboration should not be limited “only in seminars and discussion rooms but action on the ground”.
The former UN scribe also called on European governments to “follow suit” after former US President, George Bush’s announcement of new financial aid for African agricultural development, in addition to emergency food aid however urged them to “engage with the farmers” in the process.
Annan who lamented over the effect of food climate change in the continent argued that “National grain reserves are very, very low and people are asking, “Where is the maize?” In some places, people are eating seed set aside for planting, seed that has been fumigated with fungicide.
“The reason for this situation is easily explained. Cereal yields in Africa are one-quarter theworld average. As a result, an estimated 200 million people – one third of Africa’s population are hungry.
“This is not acceptable. It is time for Africa to produce its own food and attain self-sufficiency in food production. There is no reason why Africa cannot join the league of net-food exporting regions.”
Also speaking at the conference, Louis Michel, EU Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid, warned that the emergency food aid, however vital in the short term, “does not provide any response to the structural and chronic causes” of the food security problem.
Michel pointed out that the Commission had already doubled its support for the rural development sector (from €650m to €1.2bn) and had also revised its aid programmes to align them more closely with African Union’s Comprehensive African Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP).
He noted that “food aid often causes perverse phenomena such as dependency or turmoil in the markets, which have the effect of destroying any incentives for agricultural development in the countries that receive it… In the longer term, food security can only be ensured by giving priority to agriculture.”
Participants at the conference noted that many African governments, both individually and working together through the CAADP are already making significant investments in agriculture, without waiting for massive injections of aid from abroad – though in some countries the current high prices of inputs, notably fertilisers, may be holding up progress.
Add to:
del.icio.us |
Digg
del.icio.us |
Digg
Email to a friend
Print version
Plain textRate this article
Comments ( posted):
Post your comment