Alister Doyle PlanetArk 3 Dec 10;
African nations can break dependence on food imports and produce enough to feed a growing population within a generation despite extra strains from climate change, a study said on Thursday.
Research into new crops resistant to heat, droughts or floods, better support for small-scale farmers and greater involvement by national leaders in setting policies in sectors from transport to education were needed, it said.
"Africa can feed itself. And it can make the transition from hungry importer to self-sufficiency in a single generation," said an international study led by Harvard University professor Calestous Juma.
About 70 percent of Africans are involved in agriculture but almost 250 million people, or a quarter of the population of the poorest continent, are undernourished. The number has risen by 100 million since 1990.
Juma, who is a professor of international development, told Reuters that food self-sufficiency would require big shifts in policies that have led to dependence on food aid handouts and imports in many nations.
"Climate change makes it more difficult," he said in a telephone interview of the study released to coincide with a meeting of several African leaders in Tanzania on Thursday, as well as U.N. talks on slowing climate change in Cancun, Mexico.
The U.N. panel of climate scientists says that up to 220 million people in Africa could face extra disruptions to water supplies by 2020. It says the continent faces more heatwaves, floods, mudslides, desertification and droughts.
Juma said the study, "The New Harvest, Agricultural Innovation in Africa," called for more involvement by national leaders in solving problems in sectors such as water, energy, transport, communications and education.
He said that the army, for instance, might refuse if the agriculture minister asked them to build a new road vital to distribute food. "But if the president asks they will do it. The president is the commander in chief," he said.
Research, including genetic modification, could help by developing new crops, perhaps by exploiting traits in indigenous varieties, he said.
"New technologies, especially biotechnology, provide African countries with additional tools for improving the welfare of farmers," said Burkina Faso President Blaise Compaore in a statement about the study.
And any methods developed by Africa could help other parts of the world. "It will pave the way for improved collaboration between Africa and South America," said Costa Rican President Laura Chincilla.
(Editing by Eric Beech)
Africa 'can feed itself in a generation'
Neil Bowdler BBC News 2 Dec 10;
A new book claims Africa could feed itself within a generation, and become a major agricultural exporter.
The book, The New Harvest, by Harvard University professor Calestous Juma, calls on African leaders to make agricultural expansion central to all decision-making.
Improvements in infrastructure, mechanisation and GM crops could vastly increase production, he claims.
The findings are being presented to African leaders in Tanzania today.
The presidents of Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi are holding an informal summit to discuss African food security and climate change.
Speaking to the BBC ahead of the meeting, Professor Juma said African leaders had to recognise that "agriculture and economy for Africa are one and the same".
"It is the responsibility of an African president to modernise the economy and that means essentially starting with the modernisation of agriculture," he said.
Stagnation
Global food production has rocketed in recent decades but has stagnated in many parts of Africa, despite the continent having "abundant" arable land and labour, says Professor Juma.
He estimates that while food production has grown globally by 145% over the past 40 years, African food production has fallen by 10% since 1960, which he attributes to low investment.
While 70% of Africans may be engaged in farming, those who are undernourished on the continent has risen by 100 million to 250 million since 1990, he estimates.
The professor's blueprint calls for the expansion of basic infrastructure, including new road, irrigation and energy schemes.
Farms should be mechanised, storage and processing facilities built, while biotechnology and GM crops should be used where they can bring benefits.
But what was needed above all else was the political will at the highest level.
"You can modernise agriculture in an area by simply building roads, so that you can send in seed and move out produce," he told the BBC.
"The ministers for roads are not interested in connecting rural areas, they are mostly interested in connecting urban areas. It's going to take a president to go in and say I want a link between agricultural transportation and then it will happen."
He believes there is great scope to expand crops traditionally grown in Africa, such as millet, sorghum, cassava or yams.
He sees areas where farmers will need to adapt to tackle a changing climate - cereal farmers may switch into livestock, he says, while others may chose more radical options.
"Tree crops like breadfruit, which is from the Pacific, could be introduced in Africa because trees are more resistant to climate change."
He also envisages genetic modification playing a growing role in African agriculture, with GM cotton and GM maize, which are already being grown on the continent, just the start of things to come.
"You need to be able to breed new crops and adapt them to local conditions... and that is going to force more African countries to think about new genomics techniques."
Kitchen sink
George Mukkath, director of programmes at the charity Farm Africa, welcomed the study, but said with many African states investing less than 10% of their GDP in agriculture, politicians had to "put their money where there mouths are".
"It's what we've been shouting about for several years," he said. "African productivity is low. If there's an investment then African farmers are very capable of producing enough food not only to feed themselves but also for the export market."
But Dr Steve Wiggins, a research fellow at a British think-tank, the Overseas Development Institute, said that modest practical changes were preferable to long wish-lists.
"It's perfectly possible to get Africa on a much higher growth rate but I wouldn't have such a long list of things to do, particularly if I thought it was going to pre-empt all government investment," he said. "To make a difference, you don't need to throw the kitchen sink at the problem."
He also warned that Africa's urban centres could not be ignored, not least because they provide important markets for African farmers.
