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| Dialogue of the Executive Secretaries of the Regional Commissions with the Second Committee Moving From Short-term Measures: A Regional Approach to Addressing Africa 's Structural Food Crisis
Opening Remarks by Mr. Abdoulie Janneh, UN Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of ECA 17October 2008
1. Introduction • Africa's food crisis in the context of the global food crisis – Linkages, opportunities and challenges The current global food crisis comes as a wake-up call for addressing boldly the challenges of agricultural development and food security in Africa, a region where: • The livelihoods of 2/3 of the population depend directly or mainly on agriculture; • Over two-thirds of the 40% of total population living in extreme poverty are rural dwellers; • At least $25 billion are spent each year on commercial imports of food and agricultural products, in addition to some $2 billion dollars of food aid; • Yet, close to one-third of total population suffered from chronic hunger (under-nourishment) even before the advent of the crisis at the global level . From a global perspective, Africa is a major victim of the food crisis. Yet the continent also offers considerable opportunities for contributing to the solution. There is scope for increasing agricultural production because only 45% of arable land and 4% of available water resources are being used, while only 6% of arable land is irrigated. Higher food prices therefore present a good opportunity to re-launch agricultural investment and increase agricultural productivity in Africa . • Outline of the presentation In this presentation, I shall briefly focus on highlights of: • Some impacts of the global food crisis on poverty and food insecurity in Africa ; • Domestic and international drivers of Africa 's food crisis; • A framework for coordinated response to the food crisis in Africa ; and • ECA's contribution to promoting agricultural development for sustainable food security and poverty reduction in Africa . 2. Impacts of the Food Crisis on Poverty and Food Insecurity in Africa • Before the current global food crisis, extreme poverty and chronic hunger affected over 40% and nearly one-third of total population respectively and FAO estimates that high food prices increased the number of undernourished people by 24 million in Sub-Saharan Africa in 2007. Extrapolating from recent World Bank estimations, up to 25 million more people will be impoverished by the fuel/food crises. A figure that will no doubt be further worsened by the current global financial crisis. • High food prices hit the poor the hardest, as food generally represents 70-80% of their total expenditures, and thus put at risk progress on poverty reduction, social cohesion, and the broader development agenda. Poor households find themselves having to compromise on health care, education and other non-food household expenditures and face malnutrition as they give up nutrient-rich food for low cost diets. • The most visible consequences of economic impact are the social unrest and food riots that have recently taken place throughout Africa , primarily in urban areas where people have felt the brunt of the impact of soaring food prices and rising fuel costs. • Remedial policies intended to secure adequate supplies and build domestic stocks of major cereals and export bans to keep domestic prices in check have further exacerbated the situation, as such uncoordinated policies result in increased price instability in regional markets and worsen the food security situation. • Several African governments have resorted to lowering import tariffs and taxes or even subsidising food imports which resulted in substantial tax revenue losses and could also backfire by maintaining farm-gate prices low and discouraging domestic supply response. 3. Domestic and International Drivers of Africa 's Food Crisis • Under-investment in, under-capitalization and poor performance of agriculture The agriculture sector in Africa is still a predominantly a subsistence activity in most countries and is yet to attract the scale of investment needed for transformation. To date, only seven African countries allocate 10% or more of their total public spending to agriculture and rural development while development assistance to the sector has drastically declined to negligible levels over the last three decades. The resulting under-capitalization is evident in low use of inputs such as fertilizers and modern seeds, low adoption of new production technologies and declining agricultural productivity. For example, than 6% of arable land in Africa is under irrigation, while fertilizer use in sub-Saharan Africa averages 8kg per hectare which is just 9% of the world average. • Poor natural resources development and management (especially land and water) Africa 's significant natural resource base is either underdeveloped or poorly managed due to low investment and inappropriate policies. Over the past 30 years, soil structure has been damaged, nutrients have been depleted, and susceptibility to erosion has increased as a result of chemicals use, inappropriate technologies and agricultural practices. For instance, forest loss between 1990 and 2000 was estimated at 50 million hectares, representing an average deforestation rate of 0.8 percent, the highest in the world. • Demand dynamics led by population growth and urbanization Agricultural production has not kept up with rapid population growth of the region nor with rapid urbanization and improved incomes. These have led to changes in consumer preferences with increasing demand for high value food commodities such as wheat, dairy and meat products, and processed food commodities thus putting more pressure on the food supply system. It is essential therefore to develop a meaningful agro-processing industry and agribusiness sector to bridge the gap between the growing urban demand for processed food products and the regional production and supply of food. • Policies of Africa 's agricultural trading partners African agricultural development and trade have long been hampered by policies of major global agricultural producers and exporters. Production and export subsidies and various tariff and non-tariff barriers negatively affect Africa 's ability to benefit fully from global agricultural trade. As a result, the continent has lost significant shares in world agricultural markets and become increasingly dependent on imports of cheap, subsidized food which increased its vulnerability to the current food crisis. • Climate change and Energy Factors Climate change has been a key underlying factor of the food crisis in Africa for quite sometime already. Rainfall has been falling across the continent, with markedly negative impacts on crop growing periods and food and agricultural production. Increased frequency and severity of droughts and floods compound the dire food situation and the agricultural development challenge of many countries year after year. High oil prices not only increased the cost of agricultural production but also contributed to the search for biofuel alternatives, which has led in some instances to competition with food resources that could have used for human consumption. 4. Framework for Coordinated Response to the Food Crisis in Africa • UNSG's global-level initiative – Comprehensive Framework for Action The UN Secretary General's High-Level Task Force (HLTF) has prepared a Comprehensive Framework for Action (CFA) as a consensus view of the UN and BWIs. It provides guidance to the many actors involved in addressing the global food crisis, with a view to helping countries address immediate needs, build resilience, and contribute to longer-term food security. The CFA presents sets of recommended actions for the immediate and longer-term, aimed at bridging traditional humanitarian and development divides of the food crisis, with the required urgency and coherence. These measures echo the call from the high-level FAO Conference of June 2008. • Linking short and medium/long-term policy responses for the Africa Region On the regional front, the AU/NEPAD organized a workshop in May 2008, to build consensus on a coordinated African response to high food prices on the continent within the framework of the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP). Recognizing that the food crisis is not a new phenomenon to Africa , long-term programmes to address structural problems of African agriculture sector are as important as short-term emergency ones so that African countries can move from predominantly subsistence agriculture to a market-oriented competitive sector. In this regard, ECA is successfully advocating within the CAADP framework for effective public private partnerships in a regional approach that will tap into economies of scale and trans-national complementarities to foster agricultural development in the continent 5. ECA's Contribution: Regional Approach to Agricultural Transformation for Sustainable Food Security and Poverty Reduction in Africa In line with this approach, ECA has established a dedicated Food Security and Sustainable Development Division, which now spearheads a programme on “Developing agricultural strategic commodity value chains for food security and sustainable development in Africa ” The thrust of this policy programme is articulated around:
• Supporting research and development on strategic commodities through regional centers of excellence on the strategic commodities;
• Linking farmers to input and product markets through innovative contractual arrangements among small farmers and agro-industry/ agribusiness. 6. Concluding Remarks
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