Zachary Ochieng
6 July 2009
Nairobi — African leaders must increase investment in agriculture to combat poverty and food insecurity.
Addressing the 13th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the African Union that opened last week in Sirte, Libya UN Deputy Secretary General Dr Asha-Rose Migiro observed that whereas a dollar invested in agriculture in Africa has a two or three times greater impact on poverty than the same amount invested in other sectors, agriculture has often been neglected in national development strategies.
"The results of this neglect are clear. Food continues to cost more than it should and prices continue to fluctuate. Some countries have been forced to barter to obtain necessary food imports," Dr Migiro said.
The UN projects that the rate of economic growth in Africa will be only 0.9 per cent in 2009, down from 4.9 per cent in 2008.
Poverty as a whole will rise to 1.2 per cent in 2009.
"We should be alarmed by these numbers. We must do all we can to address them by giving agriculture the attention it deserves," Dr Migiro said.
She urged African countries to emulate Malawi, which only less than a decade ago was hit by famine.
However, after adopting sound agricultural policies backed by adequate resources, Malawi is now a food exporter. "We need to ensure that every African country has a national strategy for agricultural development."
Dr Migiro also noted that tackling climate change remains a top priority. "Left unaddressed, climate change will make our efforts to support agriculture and reduce hunger more expensive and difficult."
This year's summit was held under the theme "Investing in Agriculture for Economic Growth and Food Security" in tandem with the Maputo Declaration of 2003.
Under the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme, the heads of state and government meeting in Maputo committed to allocate at least 10 per cent of their national budgets to agriculture. But so far, only Ethiopia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Zimbabwe have reached this target.
In his key note address, Dr Jean Ping, chairperson of the African Union Commission pledged AU's commitment to foster agricultural development in the face of the global financial crisis.
"The theme of this summit could not have been more relevant. Africa is currently feeling the effects of the global financial crisis, not to mention conflicts and poverty that continue to bedevil the continent. It is therefore imperative that African leaders step up investment in agriculture to alleviate poverty and enhance food security", said Dr Ping.
Earlier, addressing a meeting of agriculture ministers in Tripoli ahead of the summit, Prof Richard Mkandawire, AU-NEPAD's agriculture advisor noted that decades of lagging agricultural productivity have resulted in increased numbers of Africans living below the poverty line from 150 million in 1980 to approximately 300 million today.
This is a continent where per capita agricultural productivity remains the lowest in the world; a continent where 200 million people are undernourished and 33 million children go to sleep hungry every night," said Prof Mkandawire.
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