Africa, once known as the Dark Continent, is no more dark as imagined by many but consists of vibrant nations, many of them working democracies, trying hard to improve the lot of their population. This continent also is the recipient of bulk of the global aid, financial as well as in the form of food, major brunt being borne by the US. Unfortunately not much impact is seen at the ground level for all the money that has flowed into these nations. Civil wars, brutal dictators, frequent droughts, very poor infrastructure, lack of education facilities etc have taken their toll on the none too happy situation many of the countries in the region find themselves in. It was in 2009 that the G8 nations meeting at L'Aquila in Italy dedicated vast sums of money for channelizing into Africa for food and agriculture development at a faster pace. Whether it is due to financial crunch or sheer apathy much of the commitments made never translated into actual disbursement. Fortunately the current head of the US administration has taken a new initiative to rededicate the commitment by roping in many global private sector food companies to undertake the responsibility of rejuvenation of the African continent. Here is a report on this new development.
"President Obama and the leaders of four African countries will introduce the group of 45 companies, the New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition, on Friday at a symposium on food security and agriculture that will begin the summit meeting of the Group of 8 industrialized nations this weekend at Camp David in Maryland. "We are never going to end hunger in Africa without private investment," said Rajiv Shah, the administrator of the United States Agency for International Development. "There are things that only companies can do, like building silos for storage and developing seeds and fertilizers." The alliance includes well-known multinational giants like Monsanto, Diageo and Swiss Re as well as little-known businesses like Mullege, an Ethiopian coffee exporter. The introduction of the group will coincide with the administration's report on the progress of what is known as the'Aquila Food Security Initiative, the largest international effort in decades to combat hunger by investing in the fundamentals of agriculture, including seeds, fertilizer, grain storage, roads and infrastructure. The initiative, first agreed upon by the Group of 8 leaders at their meeting in L'Aquila, Italy, in 2009, was a pledge to put $22 billion into food and agriculture projects. Although much of the money had previously been earmarked for agriculture projects, about $6 billion was new. Almost all of the $22 billion has now been "budgeted and appropriated," and 58 percent of it has been disbursed, Mr. Shah said. "I am confident that continuing into this year and the next, the U.S. and other countries will absolutely meet their commitments," he said. He conceded, however, that not all of the money is being spent as promised, which has drawn complaints from many nongovernmental organizations and African countries."The grand promise of L'Aquila was, if you build a plan for agriculture, the donors will help them find the resources for it," said Gregory Adams, director of aid effectiveness at Oxfam America, an international relief and development organization. "Now there are 30 plans of varying degrees of quality with shovel-ready projects donors could invest in today, but instead donors have put their money in other things."
With the American president taking a leading role, there appears to be better chance for the new initiative to achieve tangible results. The realization that GM crops do not lend them selves to easy adaptation to African condition and free distribution of food cannot be an answer to solve African problem is itself a positive development. Strengthening the agricultural infrastructure, ensuring supply of quality seeds and other inputs and helping the farmers to acquire modern skills are priority areas that will receive focus under the new initiative. A sobering thought is how far private players can be trusted to deliver the "goods", as many of them are under the scanner in countries like the US regarding their role in "ruining" the health of the consumers through "bad" food with adverse health consequences. In the forthcoming G8 meeting in Chicago, US can be expected to "stir the pot" and one can only wait to see what "aroma" is generated by these deliberations. In the mean time Africa will eagerly look forward to positive action oriented and time defined help from some of the richest nations in this planet.
V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com
"President Obama and the leaders of four African countries will introduce the group of 45 companies, the New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition, on Friday at a symposium on food security and agriculture that will begin the summit meeting of the Group of 8 industrialized nations this weekend at Camp David in Maryland. "We are never going to end hunger in Africa without private investment," said Rajiv Shah, the administrator of the United States Agency for International Development. "There are things that only companies can do, like building silos for storage and developing seeds and fertilizers." The alliance includes well-known multinational giants like Monsanto, Diageo and Swiss Re as well as little-known businesses like Mullege, an Ethiopian coffee exporter. The introduction of the group will coincide with the administration's report on the progress of what is known as the'Aquila Food Security Initiative, the largest international effort in decades to combat hunger by investing in the fundamentals of agriculture, including seeds, fertilizer, grain storage, roads and infrastructure. The initiative, first agreed upon by the Group of 8 leaders at their meeting in L'Aquila, Italy, in 2009, was a pledge to put $22 billion into food and agriculture projects. Although much of the money had previously been earmarked for agriculture projects, about $6 billion was new. Almost all of the $22 billion has now been "budgeted and appropriated," and 58 percent of it has been disbursed, Mr. Shah said. "I am confident that continuing into this year and the next, the U.S. and other countries will absolutely meet their commitments," he said. He conceded, however, that not all of the money is being spent as promised, which has drawn complaints from many nongovernmental organizations and African countries."The grand promise of L'Aquila was, if you build a plan for agriculture, the donors will help them find the resources for it," said Gregory Adams, director of aid effectiveness at Oxfam America, an international relief and development organization. "Now there are 30 plans of varying degrees of quality with shovel-ready projects donors could invest in today, but instead donors have put their money in other things."
With the American president taking a leading role, there appears to be better chance for the new initiative to achieve tangible results. The realization that GM crops do not lend them selves to easy adaptation to African condition and free distribution of food cannot be an answer to solve African problem is itself a positive development. Strengthening the agricultural infrastructure, ensuring supply of quality seeds and other inputs and helping the farmers to acquire modern skills are priority areas that will receive focus under the new initiative. A sobering thought is how far private players can be trusted to deliver the "goods", as many of them are under the scanner in countries like the US regarding their role in "ruining" the health of the consumers through "bad" food with adverse health consequences. In the forthcoming G8 meeting in Chicago, US can be expected to "stir the pot" and one can only wait to see what "aroma" is generated by these deliberations. In the mean time Africa will eagerly look forward to positive action oriented and time defined help from some of the richest nations in this planet.
V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com
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