LONDON, (Reuters) – A growing African food sector can yield private sector returns on the back of government support, said a report yesterday, which also said that a global grain reserve may be needed to protect consumers from price spikes.
Local initiatives aiming for an African equivalent of the Green Revolution, which swept developing countries in the 1970s and 1980s, needed coordination, the report added.
For example an African Union (AU) strategy aimed to drive economic development through investment in agriculture at a tenth of national budgets, given new impetus by a 2008 food crisis which prompted $20 billion aid for agriculture. “It’s a focus on the great and proven potential of African agriculture,” said Imperial College London’s Gordon Conway, chair of a panel of authors of the report titled “Africa and Europe: Partnerships for Agricultural Development”.
“We can continue to parachute in sacks of grain, but it’s much better to focus on making sure the seeds and fertilisers are present in the hands of the dealers in the villages.”
“We are in a period of optimism about the prospects for Africa and African agriculture,” the report concluded.
The Green Revolution in Mexico, India and elsewhere met large increases in yields through steps such as investment in irrigation, fertilisers and high yielding crops.
