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:

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

Structure of Presentation

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;
Here are some facts: about 60% of Africas poor live in rural areas; Livelihoods of 90% of rural populations depend on food production;

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State of Agriculture in Africa

60% of total labour force are employed in agriculture; Urban poor spend about 60% of household budget on food (against 2530% in developed countries); But, agricultures contribution to Africas

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 continents 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

Factors driving Low agricultural productivity and food insecurity I poor performance
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

40% of Africans live on fragile land

Urbanization and population growth

Still high rate of population growth regions 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 scale-up 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; ODA from non-traditional sources (India, China, etc) should give priority to food security;

Policy option III Development Cooperation

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 underutilized resource

Creation of the Food Security and Sustainable Development Division to assist African countries address the structural challenges to food security and sustainable development
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;

The Role of ECA I

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; The efforts must be consistent with the objectives and goals of sustainable development for longterm solution to the problem; Development cooperation is important for success; African leadership and ownership of the efforts is essential and critical for success.

Conclusion

Thank you!
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