En af hovedårsagerne til Afrikas manglende fødevaresikkerhed er, at der investeres for lidt i landbruget i Afrika. Det fastslog generaldirektøren for FAO, Jacques Diouf, torsdag.
Det skete i hans åbningstale til den 26. regionale ministerkonference for Afrika i Angola.
AFRIKA SVIGTER SIG SELV
Underinvestment in agriculture has been the core reason for African hunger and malnutrition, Diouf said.
Only nine African countries allocated at least 10 percent of their national budgets to agri-culture, as pledged by heads of state and government at the African Union Summit in Maputo in 2003.
RIGE LANDE SVIGTER AFRIKA
At the same time, the share of Official Development Assistance from rich countries that is allocated to developing country agriculture had fallen at the global level from 19 percent in 1980 to around five percent today.
GRUND TIL OPTIMISME
Jacques Diouf noted, however, that despite its negative effect, the recent global economic crisis has placed agriculture and food security at the heart of national and regional development policies and programmes, which allows to look to the next decade with greater optimism.
– This new order of priorities should be an opportunity to support small producers and strengthen family farming, he declared.