Download Policy option I - Sustainable agriculture

Interactive Dialogue of the
Executive Secretaries with
ECOSOC
Abdoulie Janneh
Under-Secretary-General, and
Executive Secretary
Economic Commission for Africa
Food Security, Sustainable
Development and the MDGs
in Africa
New York, 7 July 2008
Presentation is organized as
follows:
Structure of
Presentation
 Introduction - The state of agriculture in Africa
 Current State of food insecurity in Africa
 Factors driving the food insecurity problem
 Policy options for remedial action
 Food security as a regional public good Regional integration as an essential tool for
addressing the food insecurity problem and
promoting sustainable development
 The role of ECA in advancing the food security
and sustainable development agenda in
Africa
Agriculture remains the backbone of practically
all the economies of Africa; how it is managed is
critical for food security and sustainable
development in the region;
70
Here are some facts:
about 60% of Africa’s poor live in rural
areas;
State of Agriculture
in Africa
 Livelihoods of 90% of rural populations
depend on food production;
60% of total labour force are employed in
agriculture;
Urban poor spend about 60% of household
budget on food (against 25-30% in developed
countries);
 But, agriculture’s contribution to Africa’s GDP
has remained at 25-30% as investments and
research have dropped.
Current state of
food security in
Africa
 Currently, undernourishment affects about a third
of the continent’s population;
 But there are sub-regional variations - North
Africa has very low proportion of the population
suffering chronic hunger; situation is very serious
in varying degrees in the other four regions of the
continent – West Africa, Central Africa, East Africa
and Southern Africa;
 Africa receives about $20 billion in food aid
annually. There are14 WFP Protracted Relief and
Recovery Operations (PRRO) in West Africa; 13 in
eastern Africa and 12 in southern Africa;
 Continent spends about $25 billion annually on
food imports;
 Food insecurity is now exacerbated by global
food price inflation, climate change, growing
urbanization, and conflict;
 Implication – continent may not reach MDG1 on
nutrition by the target date.
 Under capitalization of agriculture
 Only 6% of land is under irrigation against 40% in Asia
 Low use of fertilizer. For example, 8kg/hectare of fertilizer
use in SSA, representing only 9% of world average;
 500 million hectares are moderately or severely degrade
 40% of Africans live on fragile land
 Low agricultural productivity and poor
Factors driving food
performance
insecurity I
 Land productivity is half that of Asia and Latin
America
 Labour productivity is 60% that of Asia and Latin
America
 Cereal yields are 40% of world averages
Urbanization and population growth
Still high rate of population growth – region’s population has
doubled from 335 to 751 million between 1975 and 2005
Urban population growing at an annual rate of 5% fuelled by
poverty-induced rural-urban migration;
Changing consumer preferences particularly in urban areas
putting additional pressure on food supply system.
Factors driving food
insecurity II
Climate change
African agriculture critically dependent on rain.
But climate change is resulting in falling precipitation and
increased climate variability;
Climate change gives rise to vector and water-borne diseases
exacerbating health status
Increased rate of desertification;
Result? Increasing land stress and unsustainable
development.
Global food prices rise caused by:
Reduction of production and stocks from major
exporting countries due to bad weather;
Rapid increase in oil prices and inputs into
agriculture;
Factors driving food
insecurity III –
global food price
rise
Increased demand for biofuels;
Increased demand by strong growth in China and
India, and indeed Africa;
Export prohibitions in traditional food exporting
countries.
Pursue an integrated approach to sustainable
agriculture based on the nexus between environment,
economic and institutions;
Vigorously implement the NEPAD Comprehensive
African Agriculture Development Programme
(CAADP) with focus on technology, infrastructure,
institutions and policy (TIIP);
Policy option I Sustainable
agriculture
Implement the Outcome of the Abuja Fertilizer
Summit and increase agricultural productivity through
application of knowledge and technology;
Institutional reforms particularly security of tenure
of land to empower the rural poor;
Integrate climate change concerns in agricultural
production and investment policies.
Design and implement priority energy access scaleup mechanisms;
Modernize and increase overall national energy
capacity to provide affordable energy;
Integrate energy in poverty reduction strategies and
programmes linking energy, agriculture and food
security;
Policy option II
Energy and
Infrastructure
Invest in rural feeder roads to enhance markets
formation;
Upgrade infrastructure that permits access to ports,
logistical hubs that increase competitiveness;
Develop sustainable uses of water and scale up
integrated water resources management.
World Bank should intensify its efforts to expand its
portfolio of lending to agriculture which had
decreased from 39% in the 1970s to below 10% in
2000;
ODA flows to agriculture need to be scaled-up with
accent on the whole food supply chain;
Policy option III Development
Cooperation
ODA from non-traditional sources (India, China, etc)
should give priority to food security;
EU and USA should deal expeditiously with the
agricultural subsidies problem in their region;
Major food exporters with food export restrictions
should lift them;
Development cooperation should support R&D in
African agriculture;
DOHA round of trade negotiations should be given
new life.
African agricultural system extremely fragmented but
reducing food insecurity and promoting sustainable
development is a regional public good. Hence regional
action is required.
Policy Option IV Regional Integration
and South-south
cooperation
The NEPAD Comprehensive Africa Agriculture
Development Programme (CAADP) provides a good
framework for regional action;
South-south cooperation promoting knowledge sharing
and peer-learning on food security and sustainable
development – an important under-utilized resource
Creation of the Food Security and Sustainable
Development Division to assist African countries address
the structural challenges to food security and sustainable
development
The Role of ECA I
Support to the Regional Economic Communities (RECs),
the African Union Commission and its NEPAD/CAADP in
articulating investments around the systematic
development of value chains of selected strategic food
commodities within regional integration-nine such
commodities were adopted at the Abuja AU/NEPAD
Food Security Summit, 2006;
Collaboration with FAO and UNIDO to assist African
countries and RECs to implement through public-private
partnerships technology, infrastructure, institution and
policy (TIIP) requirements of selected strategic
commodities
Close collaboration with the African Union and
the African Development Bank (AfDB) on the
development of a land policy framework to
strengthen land rights, enhance productivity, and
promote natural resources management;
The Role of ECA II
Setting up of the African Climate Policy Centre
in collaboration with TERI, India to assist African
countries mainstream climate change concerns in
their development policies and frameworks
Collaboration with other partners to advance the
food security and sustainable development agenda
in Africa in order to achieve the Mugs in the
region.
Urgent efforts are required to
overcome food insecurity in Africa;
Conclusion
The efforts must be consistent with the
objectives and goals of sustainable
development for long-term solution to
the problem;
Development cooperation is
important for success;
African leadership and ownership of
the efforts is essential and critical for
success.
Thank you!
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