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Annan leads drive to reverse Africa's farming decline
Mail & Guardian (SA)
June 14, 2007

http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=311321

Former United Nations chief Kofi Annan took the helm on Thursday of an alliance of African government and business leaders seeking to reverse a decline in the continent's agricultural output. Sub-Saharan African food production was declining year-on-year as a third of the continent's population suffers from hunger, Annan told reporters at the World Economic Forum on Africa in Cape Town.

"Ours is a continent that contains 16 of the 18 least nourished countries in the world," Annan said, accepting nomination as chairperson of the board of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa. "We cannot pull our people out of poverty without a strong agricultural base," he added.

Yet, African governments had been "ignoring" agriculture for the past 15 years and interest in farming had dropped dramatically, said the Ghanaian diplomat. Those farmers willing and able to pay for good seeds, water or soil nutrients "cannot get it because it is not there", and research and agricultural expertise were sorely lacking. "We must put practical solutions in place to lift our people out of poverty," said the former UN secretary general.

The alliance includes African leaders, farmers, governments, donors, civic groups and private-sector entrepreneurs. It was set up last year with a $150-million grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation, and seeks to help millions of African subsistence farmers become competitive producers.

Annan said the alliance's work would focus on developing resistant crop seeds, setting up irrigation systems, harnessing rain water and providing fertilisers, processing facilities and farming advice. About three-quarters of African agricultural land was being farmed without fertilisers. The effort would involve cooperation with African research institutes and farmers themselves.

"We will not limit our contact to ministries of agriculture," said Annan. "It is a long-term process," he warned. "We don't think we have a magic wand. "But in 10 to 20 years we hope to be able to demonstrate that it is possible to double, if not triple, agricultural production." -- AFP

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