The Global Agriculture and Food Security Program (GAFSP) was launched Thursday in Washington DC.
It is a new multidonor trust fund managed by the World Bank to improve food security and incomes in low-income countries through assistance to agriculture, writes FAO.
The new mechanism is designed to address the underfunding of country and regional agriculture and food security investment plans, making aid more predictable in the fight against hunger and poverty.
The fund’s founding donors, Canada, South Korea, Spain, the United States and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation pledged initial contributions totalling 880 million US dollar (knap 5 milliarder kroner) at the launch.
FAO Deputy Director-General Jim Butler said that the Organization looks forward to working with its development partners to make it operational as quickly as possible
HISTORISK SULT
The recent food and economic crises have pushed the number of hungry people worldwide to historic levels – over 1 billion people were estimated to be undernourished in the 2009 FAO report The State of World Food Insecurity.
The elimination of hunger requires major increases in agricultural investment.
FAO estimates that investment in agriculture needs to rise by 50 percent if the increased food demand by 2050 is to be met.
The new Global Agriculture and Food Security Program includes a US commitment of 475 million dollar and pledges of 230 million from Canada, 95 million from Spain, 50 million from South Korea and 30 million from the private Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. President Obama committed 67 million to the new global fund and requested 408 million in the fiscal 2011 federal budget.
The fund was established to respond to a call by the Group of 20 (G20) advanced and emerging economies for the World Bank to work with interested donors to set up a trust fund. The fund is designed to implement 22 billion dollar in pledges made by the Group of Eight (G8) advanced economies at their 2009 summit in L’Aquila, Italy.
GATES: HJÆLP SMÅBØNDERNE – DET ER MEST EFFEKTIVT
Bill Gates, co-chair of the US-based Gates Foundation, said that investing in small farmers historically was an effective way to combat hunger and extreme poverty.
– The launch of this fund is an important step forward, but only a first step. Other countries meeting at the European, G8 and G20 summits in June and at the UN [General Assembly] in September should join the four founding partners and make good on their pledges, Gates said.
The World Bank has estimated that the sudden increase in food prices in 2008 drove at least 100 million people into poverty worldwide.
The surge in food prices caused food riots that threatened to topple dozens of governments across the world and create political chaos for many regions. Even before the spike in food prices, 850 million people in poorer countries were chronically malnourished.
World Bank President Robert Zoellick said the food crisis continues to put a severe economic burden on developing countries, especially in sub-Saharan Africa.
“Agriculture, seen as vital for development, has also been affected by low levels of investment over the past few decades and issues like climate change,” according to the US Department of Agriculture.
The new global fund has both private- and public-sector accounts to provide financing to countries that have robust farming strategies.
The public-sector account will provide aid for creating better irrigation systems, linking farmers to markets and building harvest-storage infrastructure.
The private-sector account will provide financing to increase the commercial value of small and medium-sized agri-businesses and farmers.
The World Bank announced that the African Development Bank, the World Bank and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) will implement projects that are financed by the new global fund.
Se også
http://siteresources.worldbank.org/EXTARD/Resources/336681-1252501755087…
og http://www.coc.org/system/files/Interfaith-GAFSP-Final.pdf
samt
http://www.america.gov/st/texttrans-english/2010/April/20100422174942eai…
Se tillige stor baggrundsartikel fra Verdensbanken på
http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/NEWS/0,,contentMDK:22552081~pagePK:64257043~piPK:437376~theSitePK:4607,00.html
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