Europe missing out on agricultural partnerships with Africa

In a new report, leading agricultural experts warn that Europe could be left behind as Africa’s partner of choice in agricultural development unless it grasps opportunities to improve partnerships with African nations to promote food and nutrition security.

The ‘Montpellier panel report Africa and Europe: Partnerships for Agricultural Development’, drawn up with the support of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, draws attention to the need to sustain the momentum underway to invest in agriculture, address price volatility and tackle chronic hunger. It recommends donor support for the rural policies of African government policies as well as regional and regional research programmes.

The past four or five years have seen renewed donor interest in agriculture, said European Commission Director for Development Policy, Dr.Luis Riera Figueras at a public debate at the European Commission in Brussels on the report’s findings on 10 November.

He said that the Montpellier report would add food for thought to the EU’s public consultation on the future of development policy launched on 10 November (see separate article).The latter will gather ideas on how the EU should respond to new challenges and receive “more value for money” from its development policies in anticipation of the EU’s new financial perspectives from 2013, said Dr.Figueras. “Despite significant progress globally, we have on the one hand, a very top down global response characterised by strong rhetoric and the promises of large-scale funding and, on the other, a rich diversity of on-the-ground activities in sub-Saharan Africa undertaken by government and private agencies and NGOs but which remain uncoordinated,” reads the Montpellier report.

CAADP

Dr. Figueras and fellow panel members welcomed Africa’s Comprehensive African Agricultural Development Programme (CAADP) initiative for continent-wide rural development to which 22 countries of sub-Saharan Africa currently subscribe.

Professor of International Development, Gordon Conway, who is Chair of the Montpellier panel, explained the background to the food price hikes and shortages which peaked in 2008. Over the past 30-40 years, food prices have fallen leading in the mid-1970s to governments feeling that food insecurity was a thing of the past. In the 1980s, the international donor community subsequently started to withdraw rural assistance to developing nations.

At the same time, world food surpluses reduced shrinking global supply whereas economic growth in China, India and Brazil in the 1980s and 1990s was increasing demand for food. Some oil-rich nations have subsequently become involved in land grabbing.

“There is growing optimism that sub-Saharan Africa can achieve its much anticipated Green Revolution building on the successes but recognising new challenges of natural resource scarcity, climate change and other issues,” reads the report.

It adds: “Recent estimates suggest that Africa has the potential to increase the value of its annual agricultural output from $US280bn today to around $US800bn by 2030.”

“European donors could do more, commit more resources, and work more closely together to align and coordinate their actions to Africa’s national, regional and cross-continent agendas,” it suggests.

Tom Arnold, Chief Executive of the NGO Concern Worldwide who is also a panel member, suggested investment in grain reserves on the continent. Professor Conway also drew attention to the need for donor and private investment in small scale projects such as seed production and distribution to take them to the next scale.

Another member of the panel, European Commission Policy Advisor, Dr. David Radcliffe said the issue of land tenure should also be addressed. There was no “one size fits all” land tenure model, he said. Panel members also emphasised the need to back promising agricultural technologies. David Radliffe added that environmental services to promote good land use respecting biodiversity respect and sustainable water resources were a growth area.

View the full report: http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/africanagriculturaldevelopment/themontpellier...