Maravi

AfDB Group commits $1bn to agriculture

AfDB Group commits $1bn to agriculture
By Joan Chirwa and Fridah Zinyama
Saturday June 07, 2008 [04:00]

KEY players in agricultural development have formed a partnership, with the aim of significantly boosting food production in Africa’s “breadbasket” regions. And the African Development Bank (AfDB) Group has committed an additional US$1 billion to its agricultural portfolio to help address the food crisis in its regional countries.

With small-scale farmers at the centre of the partnership agreement, Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), and the World Food Programme (WFP), signed a memorandum of understanding at the just-ended Food Summit in Rome, Italy.

The partnership is expected to link local food production to food needs, and work across Africa’s major agricultural growing areas or agro-ecological zones – to create opportunities for smallholder farmers, with Zambia being a potential beneficiary of the initiative.
The agreement marked a significant transformation in the way major global agencies work with smallholder farmers to assist them in solving Africa’s chronic hunger and food problems.

They noted that among the challenges facing accelerated food production in Africa were poorly developed markets, lack of investment and poor infrastructure in rural areas.
“This collaborative initiative is part of AGRA’s strategic vision to build partnerships that pool the strengths and resources of the public and private sectors, civil society, farmers’ organisations, donors, scientists and entrepreneurs across the agricultural value chain,” said Kofi Annan, chairman of the Board of AGRA. “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 to end poverty and hunger.

The institutions stated that careful environmental monitoring and conserving biodiversity, water and land would be given high priority. The agreement also calls for coordinating and sharing agricultural development innovations across diverse ecological zones and associated crops. At the country level, the partnership will support the efforts of governments and work with farmers and other stakeholders to rapidly boost agricultural productivity and farm incomes.

Each agency will deliver unique expertise towards achieving an environmentally and economically sustainable green revolution that will end the continent’s perennial food crisis.

Per capita food production has declined in Africa for the past 30 years and farm productivity on the continent is just one-quarter the global average. Today, more than 200 million people are chronically hungry in the region, and 33 million children under age five are malnourished.

And in a press statement, AfDB president Donald Kaberuka said the additional funds would increase the amount set aside to mitigate the food crisis to about US$ 4.8 billion.

Kaberuka said the Bank Group would also restructure some of its agriculture portfolio to provide a rapid disbursement facility to the tune of US $250 million.

He urged cereals exporting countries not to suspend their exports because the practice would compromise the existence of about 150 million people in a dozen African states, especially the population of fragile countries, the sick and elderly.
Kaberuka explained that the Bank had a current portfolio of US $3.8 billion meant to help support the agricultural sector in its regional member countries.

He said that Bank would find a way of assisting countries in difficulties by considering additional measures for budget support.

The Bank Group's board of governors recently approved the establishment of the African Fertiliser Financing Mechanism Special Fund with a view to mobilising resources from donors to finance in particular, fertiliser production, distribution, procurement and use in Africa. And Kaberuka reiterated the importance of infrastructure in the resolution of the food crisis, considering that current average post-harvest losses stood at a whooping 40 per cent where a reduction of 10 per cent of the losses would result in five million additional tones of cereals.

He emphasised the development of rural infrastructure as one of the Bank Group’s priorities to open up landlocked areas to wider markets, attract great revenue for local farmers and drastically reduce post-harvest losses.

Labels: ADB, AGRA, FAO

posted by MrK @ 7:47 PM