African leaders criticised for failing to address food security

African leaders gathered at the AU summit in Sirte, Libya scrambled to find solutions to the the problem of hunger plaguing the continent as millions face starvation.

Policy advisors at a just ended conference in Geneva under the auspices of the UN Conference on Trade and Development(UNTCAD) did not have kind words for the African leadership as they reviewed the state of food security in the continent.

“We cannot let history repeat itself. We cannot once again allow Africa’s farmers to be abandoned,” said the meeting’s keynote speaker, Dr Akinwumi Adesina, Vice President of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa.

“I have never seen farmers so abandoned. They have had no help with seeds, no fertilisers, no financing, no price stability, and they have to pray for rain. They do not have the supports you see in Asia, in Europe, in the United States.

They are locked in a poverty trap.”

UN deputy secretary-general, Dr Asha-Rose Migiro, expressed concern about the state of agriculture in Africa as she addressed a session of the Sirte summit talks amid estimates that close to 300 million people in the continent are currently hungry and in need of food support.

“By some estimates, 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. And yet, until recently, agriculture has often been neglected in national development strategies. The results of this neglect are clear,” she said.

With huge deficits in production, food continues to cost more than it should in Africa today and prices continue to fluctuate leaving many poor people in danger.

Children often bore the brunt of this situation with projections that close to half of all children in sub Saharan Africa are underweight for their age.

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 by 1.2 per cent in 2009 compared to 2008.

Alarming numbers
“This already appalling situation is expected to get worse. We should all be alarmed by these numbers. We must do all we can to address them by giving agriculture the attention it deserves,” Mrs Migiro urged the leaders.

“For instance,” she said, “Only 7 per cent of arable land in Africa is irrigated, compared with nearly 40 percent in Asia and 20 percent globally while fertilizer is barely used on depleted soils and climate-adapted seed varieties are scarce.

“Malawi, for example, shows us what can be achieved when good policies are backed by adequate resources. Less than a decade ago, Malawi was hit by famine.

Today, Malawi is a food exporter. Other countries have also recorded great successes. We need to replicate these transformations across the continent,” she urged the conference.

This rebuke leveraged on the summit’s theme which is ‘Investing in Agriculture for Economic Growth and Food Security.’