UN report shows Africa at the mercy of forces it cannot control

http://www.busrep.co.za/index.php?fSectionId=561&fArticleId=195880

July 25, 2003

By Quentin Wray

Johannesburg - Africa's ability to meet its millennium development goals of halving poverty by 2015 was being impeded by faltering multilateral trade talks and increased US agricultural subsidies, the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) has said.

In the 2003 edition of the Economic Report on Africa, the full version of which will be released on July 30, the ECA says Africa's medium-term prospects depend "to a great extent" on external developments.

The main theme of this year's report was accelerating the pace of development, the ECA said. The report examined how Africa could achieve the growth rates necessary to attain the millennium development goals.

It was unfortunate for Africa that the World Trade Organisation talks on farm trade reform - which it described as "by far the most important issue in the Doha development round for Africa" - appeared to have faltered.

And, it said, the US's decision in 2002 to introduce a $51.7 billion bill to increase farm subsidies would not help Africa's prospects.

The importance of agriculture was highlighted by the New Partnership for Africa's Development (Nepad) secretariat in its comprehensive Africa agriculture development programme (CAADP).

According to Nepad, the agricultural sector accounts for 60 percent of Africa's total labour force, 20 percent of its merchandise exports and 17 percent of its gross domestic product

Apart from land and water management, rural infrastructure development and technology dissemination and adoption, the CAADP highlights the need for improving market access and increasing trade.

Subsidies given by developed countries to their agricultural sectors were highlighted as obstacles to agricultural development.

The CAADP points out that industrial countries (which it says could easily do without agriculture and still prosper), continue to finance their agricultural sectors heavily.

Wiseman Nkuhlu, who chairs the Nepad secretariat, has said the lack of progress in agricultural reform would be a key reason for Africa not meeting its goals.

Rather, he warned, poverty and the number of undernourished people were likely to increase.

The report will show that Africa's economic performance last year was lacklustre, with growth slowing to 3.2 percent from an average 4.3 percent in 2001.

But "some well-managed reformers with a record of stability and good governance, like Uganda, Rwanda and Mozambique, managed to buck the trend with growth of 6.2 percent, 9.9 percent and 12 percent respectively".