Urgent need for more spending on agriculture

UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) Director-General Jacques Diouf on Wednesday called on African leaders to recognise the importance of agriculture in poverty reduction, and properly fund the sector. "There is now a growing recognition of the key role that the agriculture sector must play in economic development and poverty reduction, and the need to reverse trends in resource allocations to agriculture," a FAO statement quoted Diouf as saying. Diouf made his remarks during a conference of ministers of agriculture of the African Union, meeting in Mozambique to discuss the agricultural programmes of the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD). Agriculture supports 70 percent of the people of Africa, but production has fallen substantially in recent years. The average cereal yield in Africa as a whole is only about one-third of the average yield in Asia and less than half the yield in Latin America. "Approximately 200 million people, one-third of the population of Africa, are chronically undernourished," Diouf said. "Around 40 million people are currently facing food emergencies caused by natural and man-made disasters. In addition, FAO estimates that in sub-Saharan Africa, AIDS has already killed around 7 million agricultural workers since 1985, and that 16 million more may die before 2020." Africa uses only 1.6 percent of its available water, compared to 14 percent in Asia. As a result, only 3.8 percent of arable land in sub-Saharan Africa is irrigated, compared to 14 percent in Latin America and the Caribbean, and 40 percent in Asia. "There is a need for a comprehensive programme, focusing on water harvesting and conservation, and efficient use, irrigation and drainage," said Diouf. "Such a programme would generate substantial and sustainable increases in farm production, as well as reduce the vulnerability of rural communities to future crises." Diouf also said Africa lacks modern farm inputs such as high yielding seed varieties, vaccines and fertilisers. Storage and processing facilities are non-existent or inadequate. He characterised the continent's rural infrastructure as "grossly insufficient." To stem the continuing decline of Africa's agricultural sector, Diouf urged the swift implementation of NEPAD's Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) by the continent's agriculture ministers. CAADP calls for action in agriculture under four pillars: investment in water control and land management, expansion of rural infrastructure such as roads and storage facilities, direct action to increase food supply through competitive production and the provision of safety nets for vulnerable groups, and support to science and the adoption of technologies for long-term productivity. Diouf compared the US $19.3 billion annual cost of implementing the programme to the US $19.6 billion Africa spends annually, based on 2000-2001 figures, to import agricultural products.