AU Chairman: Africa Must Fight For Farm Subsidies
Malawian President Bingu wa Mutharika, who is also African Union (AU) chairman, said on Thursday that Africa should fight for subsidies for its poor farmers so as to achieve food security on the continent.
– Africa should stand up and fight for subsidies for poor farmers … the new partnership with the donor community should be based on strengthening the subsidies for African smallholder farmers, especially women, wa Mutharika told a meeting of African agriculture ministers.
– There is no way an African farmer can survive without subsidies; such subsidies would be directed towards the purchase of fertilizers, seeds, pesticides, tractors, and irrigation equipment, extension services and marketing, he added (Malawi har netop gennemført en sådan støtte-politik mod opsigtsvækkende produktionsfremgang til følge, red.)
Wa Mutharika commended the G8 countries for planning to consider assisting developing countries with agricultural subsidies at their recent meeting. – This is a way of providing Africa a means to produce its food instead of giving food aid to the countries, he said.
He said countries should learn success stories from Malawi where it has been using subsidies to achieve food security. – The vision is to see a hunger-free Africa where the continent can feed its people without begging for food aid from overseas, he stressed.
