News Brief: Week of May 24 2010

The World Bank is reviewing its strategy for Africa. For the past five years, our support to Africa has been guided by the Africa Action Plan (AAP), but changes in the global economy and on the continent make it necessary to renew our approach. As part of this review, the World Bank will consult with a wide array of stakeholders to seek their views and input. The process, outlined in our Consultations Plan, is expected to be finalized in late 2010-early 2011. A Consultation Note has been prepared as background information and posted online.

The consultations are part of a broader effort to gather input from a wide range of perspectives to help the World Bank prepare a strategy that reflects the changing needs of the continent. The new strategy would address how the World Bank can better support the continent, balance competing demands, promote synergies and address trade-offs.

In addition to collecting comments online, the World Bank is holding a first phase of consultations from June 2010 to July 2010. Four regional meetings in Africa have been firmed up to kick off the consultation period. After that we will hold a series of meetings, round table discussions and video conferences in the African countries, as well as other events. The input collected will be used to inform the drafting of the strategy.

You can share your views by submitting your input or simply by sending an email to africaconsult@worldbank.org. The meeting schedule and details are being updated regularly. To stay updated on the process and how you can be involved, please sign up for e-mail updates.

If you have suggestions on the consultations or on how to improve the website, please do contact us at africaconsult@worldbank.org.

We are looking forward to your continuous engagement in this process, your suggestions and the insights you will bring to the discussion.

Liberia: President Reports Progress Amid Problems to US Backers
Source: Allafrica.com
Washington, DC - May 25, 2010

Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is in Washington this week with a message that the country's post-conflict recovery, while still fragile, can become self-sustaining within a decade.

The visit includes a meeting with President Barack Obama on Thursday. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who returns from Asia earlier that day, is scheduled to join the two presidents at the White House. "President Obama is looking forward to the opportunity to discuss with President Sirleaf a range of important bilateral and regional issues," according to a White House statement released to AllAfrica on Monday. "We have maintained our links to the Liberian people through some of the country's most challenging times, and we remain deeply engaged now as Liberia continues to look to its future."

With an average annual growth rate of seven percent during the four years since she took office, Johnson Sirleaf told AllAfrica in an interview that Liberia is poised for a promising future, where its people can expect to get an education and find a job. The country has attracted pledges of large investments and has received substantial foreign assistance from a range of international donors, including the United States.

After 25 years of instability and civil war, the peace that has been restored, though fragile, has opened the way for progress in a number of areas. "Roads, water and lights have been restored in the capital city," she said. "Schools, hospitals and clinics have been built all over the country. We have a free society - sometimes we think too free! The media, free speech, free association, freedom of religion - those are all prospering."

Acknowledging that the country "still has a long way to go," the president lists as key challenges the creation of employment for thousands of unskilled youth and eradication of "the systemic corruption" which she says has embedded "dependency and dishonesty" in the country's value system.

"The unresolved pre-1980 historical challenges and the debilitating consequences of 14 years of civil war continue to define today's Liberia," D. Elwood Dunn, a Liberian political scientist and tenured professor at the University of the South, wrote in a report on Liberia published earlier this year by Freedom House. Dunn said in an interview that he hopes Johnson Sirleaf will use "the bully pulpit of the presidency" to convince Liberians to examine the roots of the country's divisiveness "so a new Liberia can be born."

Ties between the United States and Liberia date to the founding of the Liberian Republic in 1847 by former American slaves. Often neglected or overlooked by American policymakers, Liberia was nevertheless a staunch U.S. ally in World War I and II and sided with Washington during the Cold War, which came to an end about the same time Liberia's civil war got underway in late 1989.

The problem of corruption is expected to come up during Johnson Sirleaf's meetings with top congressional leaders from both parties. A report by the Congressional Research Service (CRS) released last week calls corruption "a key, abiding challenge," but also credits the Johnson Sirleaf administration with "a number of successes in fighting corruption."

Johnson Sirleaf will address the Council on Foreign Relations Tuesday before making her first official calls on Congressional leaders since her address to a joint meeting of the U.S. Senate and House in March 2006. A few weeks after the visit, Congress approved $50 million in immediate assistance for the new Liberian administration. Total U.S. development assistance and emergency aid for Liberia from 2006 through 2009 totaled $777 million, according to the CRS report.

"The United States greatly values its historic bonds with Liberia," the White House statement said. "The country is an important democratic partner that has made tremendous strides in consolidating stability, improving governance, and contributing to regional peace and development in recent years."

Liberian Ambassador Nathaniel Barnes said President Johnson Sirleaf plans to express appreciation "for the unparalleled support Liberia is receiving from the United States." The current level of assistance makes Liberia - a country the size of Tennessee with a population of 3.5 million people - the third largest recipient of American aid in sub-Saharan Africa, Barnes said in an interview.

Support for Liberia crosses party lines. Johnson Sirleaf was warmly welcomed to the White House on several occasions by the former president, George W. Bush, who awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest U.S. civilian honor. Since President Obama took office, the support has been sustained, Barnes said. Secretary Clinton, who has known Johnson Sirleaf for many years, visited the country on an seven-nation Africa trip last August.

"We have a very strong engagement with Liberia," Mary Beth Leonard, West African affairs director at the State Department said in an interview, with U.S. assistance focused on building democratic institutions and promoting economic development. "When you think about where Liberia has come from, it is nothing short of miraculous," she said.

On Wednesday, Johnson Sirleaf will be hosted at a breakfast by two leading congressional supporters of Liberia, Sen. Jack Reed (Democrat - Rhode Island) and Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (Democrat - Illinois), along with the chief executive of the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), Daniel Yohannes. Based on progress Liberia has been making in a number of areas, the country has become eligible to receive assistance from MCC, which is an independent U.S. foreign aid agency created by former president Bush to assist countries that demonstrate they are effectively pursuing economic and political reform.

"When you look at President Sirleaf's reform agenda, it matches fundamental building blocks of the MCC - good governance, accountability, a pathway out of poverty through economic growth, job creation and private sector investments," Sheila Herrling, an MCC vice president, said in an interview. When approved by the board, the first phase of MCC engagement will provide about $15 million to Liberia for three initiatives - girls' primary education, land rights and access, and trade policy reform, which will help Liberia harmonize trade tariffs with its neighbors and other trade partners.

This initial involvement is through what the MCC calls a Threshold Program, designed to help countries become eligible for a "compact" with the MCC, which are large-scale in scope and funds. Of the 19 compacts signed to date, 12 are with African countries, including large programs in Ghana ($547 million), Senegal ($540 million) and Tanzania ($698 million).

The MCC program symbolizes the direction bilateral relations are moving, according to Riva Levinson, a Washington consultant who volunteered in Johnson Sirleaf's presidential campaign and has helped coordinate her U.S. visits since 2006. "She is seeking to define a partnership going forward based upon shared security and shared interests," Levinson said.

Johnson Sirleaf says Liberia cannot expect and should not want to receive assistance from the United States and other donors indefinitely. "Liberia can move from dependency to self-sufficiency in 10 years," she said in the interview. "We should be able, on the basis of our own natural resources, to finance our own development effort."

The investment pledges Liberia has received help prepare the way for that transition. "There are lots of deals happening - valued at more than $10 billion," said Nicolas Cook, author of the Congressional Research Service report. These include large iron ore projects with the Chinese investment conglomerate China Union, worth an estimated $2.6 billion, with Australia's BHP Billiton ($2 billion) and Russia's Severstal ($2 billion), as well as several major agricultural projects and rubber deals, plus oil exploration contracts reportedly valued at $60 million.

Besides investment, Liberia still needs substantial international assistance. Minister of Planning and Economic Affairs Amara Konneh urged Friday that U.S. aid officials address the critical lack of human capacity in Liberia.

Speaking on a panel organized by Oxfam America, he critiqued the common practice of using foreign experts, who "come with huge administrative costs," to run development projects without training their successors. To become self-sufficient, he said, Liberia and other aid recipients must require that indigenous talent be cultivated. Local "ownership" and local capacity are essential elements of aid effectiveness, he said.

While Johnson Sirleaf's visit is not being cast as a search for increased assistance, the message from her administration is that smart aid - targeted towards capacity development and aligned with locally identified needs - is itself a good investment. Liberia's poverty reduction strategy "came out of a rigorous process of consultation and participation by people across the country," she said in her AllAfrica interview. "The best way to make development work," she said, "is to ensure that the priorities are established by the people themselves."

Second Green Revolution Taking Root in Africa

Source: Allafrica.com (America.gov)

Washington, DC - May 24, 2010

A second Green Revolution is starting to take root in Africa, says Cameroonian-born agriculture specialist A. Namanga Ngongi. And that is important because agriculture is the largest private sector occupation in Africa and could fuel economic growth and development across the continent.

Speaking to the Symposium on Global Agriculture and Food Security May 20 in Washington, Ngongi, who is president of Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa, said African farmers must take a private sector and collaborative approach to their vocation, working with nongovernmental organizations, governments and banks to help solve their problems -- which often involve scarcity of credit.

[The introduction of high-yielding varieties of seeds after 1965 and the increased use of fertilizers and irrigation that provided a dramatic increase in production in developing nations are known collectively as the Green Revolution.]

Ngongi, who earned a doctorate from Cornell University, said: "We all know how risk-averse the banks are to lend to agriculture. Here, if I wanted to start a farm in America, I am sure I would find a bank that would have some support from the U.S. Department of Agriculture that would give me credit at a lower rate" than what is available commercially.

Ngongi said commercial credit available for agriculture in Africa is not in proportion to its importance in the economy. "In Africa, 2 to 3 percent of commercial credit goes to agriculture ... which occupies 70-75 percent of the population and generates something like 40 percent of the gross domestic product in most countries and contributes 50-60 percent of the export earnings of most countries," he said.

To help change that, Ngongi said, his organization has partnered with the National Microfinance Bank in Tanzania, Equity Bank in Kenya and Standard Bank in Mozambique, Tanzania, Uganda and Ghana, to put together millions of dollars of funding that could be leveraged as credit from those banks for use by farmers. That program, he said, has brought about a new way of thinking and of doing business on the part of the participatory banks. To illustrate his point, he told of a woman farmer in Kenya who told him that, with the onset of that program, for the first time she could enter a bank as a farmer in Kenya and expect to be served.

Ngongi also credited telephone banking with helping pave the way for progress.

"Telephoning has reduced the cost of the administration of credit to the point where the banks added 2 million new customers and only added 100 new staff members" to service that expanded customer base. "They were able to reduce interest rates from 18 percent to 12 percent," and that 12 percent, he said, is now dropping to 9 percent in Kenya. "It can be done in many other countries," if the banks and governments accept and implement certain reforms, he said.

In addition to improvement on the credit front, Ngongi said, Africans now are seizing new opportunities in the areas of seeds, soils and markets -- all working in concert with realistic farming policies that increasingly are being adopted by African governments.

"We all know that you need good seed. You need to plant good seed" if you are going to prosper as a farmer, no matter the location and size of the farms, he said.

Small African seed companies are developing new-high yield seeds and making a difference, Ngongi said. His organization, he added, supports 32 African seed companies that are now producing 15,000 metric tons of seeds annually.

He cited the example of the Faso Kaba Seed Company in Mali, which started with nine tons of seed four years ago. Last year, it produced 300 tons of high-quality seed that was made available to farmers in Mali, both small and large.

Small farms, like the larger farms, can produce bumper crops, he said, when all things are equal. If both small and large farmers have equal access to good seeds and technology, there is no reason why the small farmer cannot produce just as much as the large farmer per hectare, he added.

On fertilizer use, Ngongi said African farmers average nine kilograms per hectare. In the United States it is 100 to 150 kilograms per hectare and 300 kilograms in China, he explained. Using micro-dose technology, he said, African farmers can use 20-30 percent of what other farmers worldwide use and still harvest as good a crop because of the richness of the soil and the often-abundant rainfall.

What African farmers urgently need are working markets where farm crops can be bought and sold at rational and realistic private sector, market prices, he said. For years, he explained, many African governments imposed dysfunctional fixed-price markets in which farmers could not sell their crops at a profit. For that reason, he said, they often chose not to grow food crops because they would have to sell their harvest at a loss. This often sparked food shortages.

To illustrate his point, he said Uganda is the second-largest worldwide producer of bananas, but ranks 75th on the list of commercial banana exporters by volume.

"Why?" he asked rhetorically. "Most of the crop is lost because they cannot keep it. They cannot process it. They cannot transport it. They cannot package it. They cannot add value to it."

While many of those issues still need to be addressed, he said, his organization has made progress recently by working with farmers in Uganda and Kenya to triple their income by selling bananas by the kilo and not by the bunch.

What is also needed, he said, is close coordination between farmers and African leaders to change African agriculture policies so they make more sense for everyone. "You can develop policies at the ground level, people can come with their ideas of what to do -- we all know what to do -- but the people who can drive the change are the people who are leading the countries -- the presidents."

African governments must create the conditions to allow agriculture to thrive, he said, and that, in turn, will fuel economic growth and development across the continent -- and feed the continent.

ONE Campaign Report: G7 Development Aid Evaluation

Source: Allafrica.com (ONE Campaign)

May 25, 2010

Nearly five years after the G7 countries promised at their meeting in Gleneagles, Scotland, to increase development aid to Africa, the global anti-poverty advocacy group, ONE, examines their records:

Canada

Canada surpassed its modest Gleneagles commitment in 2008 and remained slightly above its target in 2009. In 2009, there was a decrease of CAD$335 million ($294 million) after a large multilateral payment in the 2008 calendar year caused ODA to spike. ONE estimates that Canada will increase its ODA to sub-Saharan Africa by an additional CAD$353 million ($309 million) in 2010, meaning that it will have met 170% ($589 million) of the increases it promised at Gleneagles.

Despite Canada's commendable performance on its Gleneagles target, the government's decision to cap its International Assistance Envelope at 2010–11 levels for the next five years threatens to undermine its leadership on development, especially as the host of this year's G8 and G20 meetings. In 2010, Canada should reconsider its budget decisions, set a new, more ambitious ODA target and lead the G8 in the development of a robust post-Gleneagles partnership with sub-Saharan Africa.

Within the G8, Canada has emerged as a leader in supporting basic education as well as food security. It has also made some laudable efforts to improve the effectiveness of its aid in recent years. Canada is on track to meet its commitments to cancel debt to the world's poorest countries, but like the rest of the G8 is failing to deliver on its commitment to 'make trade work for Africa'.

France

France's development assistance to sub-Saharan Africa grew substantially in 2009 with an increase of €853 million ($1.19 billion). This was a welcome change after last year's decrease, and greater than what was projected in the French budget. It was not enough, however, to put France on track to deliver its Gleneagles commitments. French budget documents indicate that 2010 ODA will be lower than what was reported to the DAC for 2009. Based on these figures, ONE estimates that France's ODA to sub-Saharan Africa in 2010 will fall by €448 million ($624 million), meaning that it will meet 25% of the increases it promised at Gleneagles.

This projection is based on the most recent budget data available. France's ODA in 2010 may ultimately be higher than projected if IMF contributions remain high and if France continues to channel its ODA through loans rather than grants. France must be commended for its ambitious Gleneagles commitment, which was the largest of the G7 as a proportion of GNI and the second largest in volume, and which focused a higher proportion of resources on sub-Saharan Africa than the rest of the EU. Although France's commitments will extend beyond 2010, with a goal of reaching 0.7% ODA/GNI in 2015, it has no budget increases planned until at least 2012.

France remains one of the core donors to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. In addition, its increase in health commitments to sub-Saharan Africa in 2008 was driven largely by increased investment in health systems. Support for primary education has grown consistently since 2005, and assistance for sub-Saharan Africa accounted for 59% of global primary education commitments in 2008. However, France is not on track to meet its commitments to cancel debt to the world's poorest countries (and may even be exacerbating debt portfolios by focusing assistance on loans rather than grants), and like the rest of the G8 is failing to deliver on its commitment to 'make trade work for Africa'.

Germany

In 2009 German ODA to sub-Saharan Africa increased by only €56m ($79m) – the smallest increase since the Gleneagles summit – despite efforts to increase both global ODA and allocations to the region in the 2009 budget. ONE estimates that Germany will increase its ODA to sub-Saharan Africa by €63 million ($88 million) in 2010, meaning that it will have met 25% (€782 million/$1.089 billion) of the increases it promised at Gleneagles.

Despite modest increases delivered in 2009 and projected for 2010, Germany's original Gleneagles commitment was ambitious and its increase in ODA of €719 million ($1.001 billion) to sub-Saharan Africa since 2004 is commendable. In 2010 and beyond, Germany needs to accelerate momentum to reach its global 2015 commitment, with clear targets for the region.

Within the G8, Germany has been a steady supporter of water and sanitation in sub-Saharan Africa. It has also emerged as a leader in generating funding from innovative financing mechanisms, including being the first country to direct financing from the sales of CO2 emission certificates to development. Germany remains an average performer on the effectiveness of its development assistance. It is on track to meet its commitments to cancel debt to the world's poorest countries, but like the rest of the G8 is failing to deliver on its commitment to 'make trade work for Africa'.

Italy

In 2009, the year of its G8 presidency, Italy's ODA to sub-Saharan Africa fell by €238 million ($331 million). Since Gleneagles, Italy has cut ODA to the region by €169 million ($235 million). This means that it has delivered -6% of its commitment. Italy is not expected to salvage this situation in 2010. ONE estimates 2010 levels of ODA to be the same as those in 2009. Further, there is little evidence of a proposed recovery plan to re-establish progress towards a new global target of 0.51% by 2013.

Italy provided leadership as the 2009 G8 host in prioritising agriculture on the G8's agenda. However, it has made minimal progress in improving its aid quality and also has not paid its 2009 commitment to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, raising concerns that it will become the first country to outright default on a Global Fund pledge.

Italy is also not on track to meet its commitments to cancel debt to the world's poorest countries, and like the rest of the G8 is failing to deliver on its commitment to 'make trade work for Africa'.

Japan

Japan has almost reached its 2010 commitments to sub-Saharan Africa (made at Gleneagles and the Fourth Tokyo International Conference on African Development – TICAD IV – in May 2008). In 2009 it increased its total ODA to the region by ¥32 billion ($341 million). ONE estimates that Japan will increase ODA to the region by an additional ¥46 billion ($498 million) in 2010, meaning that it will have met 149% of the bilateral increases it promised for 2010, and will have surpassed its 2012 target this year.

Despite setting weak targets, Japan's ODA increases to sub-Saharan Africa in recent years (¥129 billion/$1.376 billion since 2004) demonstrate a growing commitment to poverty reduction in the region. Japan should solidify this commitment in 2010 by setting a transparent, ambitious target for future ODA increases that includes both bilateral and multilateral spending.

Within the G8, Japan has been a leader in providing technical assistance and support for water and sanitation improvements in the region. It has also been a consistent supporter of the Global Fund, providing $846.5 million between 2001 and 2008, the fourth largest contribution among single country donors. However, Japan is not on track to meet its commitments to cancel debt to the world's poorest countries, and like the rest of the G8 is failing to deliver on its commitment to 'make trade work for Africa'.

United Kingdom

Since hosting the Gleneagles Summit in 2005, the UK has been a leader in delivering on its commitments, and last year reached its target to double bilateral ODA to sub-Saharan Africa.7 Despite a large increase in global ODA in 2009 that raised the UK's ODA to 0.51% of GNI, ODA for the region increased by only £240 million ($375 million). While still a significant increase, this was lower than expected and represented only one-fifth of the UK's global increase. Large volumes of 2009 bilateral assistance are yet to be allocated and may alter the final figures once reported.

If so, ONE estimates that the UK has fallen just short of its 2009 target to be on track. An ambitious projected increase of £1.2 billion ($1.9 billion) for 2010 over the preliminary 2009 figures would, if delivered, enable it to meet 93% of the increases it promised at Gleneagles. A 2010 increase of this size would be greater than its £975 million ($1.52 billion) increase between 2004 and 2009.

In addition to its ambitious commitments, the UK deserves great credit for maintaining its budget projections during the economic crisis. Increases in the 2009 budget, reconfirmed in 2010, put it on target to be the first G8 country to meet the UN goal of spending 0.7% of national income in ODA. The UK continues to deliver large volumes of budget support, being the second largest country contributor to sub-Saharan Africa through this channel in 2008. Global education also remains a priority, with a new pledge to increase support for the sector by £1 billion ($1.56 billion) annually between 2010/11 and 2015/16, half of which will go to Africa.

The UK has also responded to the international call for efforts to support agricultural development, pledging $1.8 billion over three years for the L'Aquila Food Security Initiative. The UK continues to be a leader on aid effectiveness within the G8 and is also on track to meet its commitments to cancel debt to the world's poorest countries. However, like the rest of the G8, the UK is failing to deliver on its commitment to 'make trade work for Africa'.

United States

In 2009, US development assistance to sub-Saharan Africa rose by 14% ($1.12 billion). With this increase, the US exceeded its Gleneagles commitment one year in advance of the target. In 2010, ONE estimates that the US will increase ODA to the region by an additional $1.6 billion, meaning that it will have delivered 158% ($5.384 billion) of the increases it promised at Gleneagles.

Despite its relatively smaller commitment in 2005, the US has made the largest ODA increases by volume to sub Saharan Africa among the G8. Although it has already committed to double foreign assistance by 2015, this commitment is expected to be met relatively easily given US interests in both sub-Saharan Africa and strategic states. In the years ahead, the US should set a new ODA commitment (including an ambitious target for sub-Saharan Africa) as part of a comprehensive national strategy on global development.

The US remains a clear leader on global health programmes and has maintained a solid record on investments in agriculture. Recent appropriations and proposed budgets for other development sectors are likely to deliver higher ODA disbursements in the future. At present, the US remains below a proportionate share in some sectors, especially in education. It has also performed poorly on most aid effectiveness indicators measured in this report. As the Obama Administration moves forward on two new strategy and operational initiatives (one led by the White House and one by the State Department/USAID) there is hope that aid effectiveness will be improved. The US is also off track to meet its commitments to cancel debt to the world's poorest countries, and like the rest of the G8 is failing to deliver on its commitment to 'make trade work for Africa'.

Climate Change, Financial Crisis Hurt Progress Towards Millennium Development Goals

Source: Allafrica.com
Cape Town, South Africa - May 25, 2010

The global economic crisis and climate change threaten to curtail already slow progress on meeting the social development targets of the Millennium Development Goals, says a new report by the Africa Progress Panel, an international review group headed by former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

Economic progress has not increased social benefits to the majority of Africa's people despite the continent's unprecedented economic growth of an average six percent in the five years preceding the crisis, the report says.

It attributes the growth to "healthy macroeconomic policies, lower public debts, increased political freedom, increased openness to trade, and a favourable global environment of strong external demand, ample liquidity, extended concessional financing, and higher commodity prices."

But it notes that social protection and poverty reduction are still lacking.

"Despite strong economic growth, an overall improvement in the policy environment, and many success stories, particularly in the area of primary education, the continent as a whole is lagging behind on each of the relevant goals," the report said. "Progress, already too slow, now risks being further undermined by the effects of the global economic crisis and climate change."

The crisis has not only hurt economic growth and resulted in job losses but it also has affected government spending patterns.

"Effects are being transmitted to African societies through several channels. In terms of public expenditure on social sectors, the crisis is not only squeezing the ability of African governments to sustain the levels of investments they were able to make over the past few years, but it is also resulting in declines in public expenditure on social sectors as a percentage of GDP," according to the report.

"The lack of public social safety nets to offset the negative impacts on individuals and families is compounding the situation, with the working poor and other vulnerable groups enduring the greatest impacts of the crisis."

Progress has been made in meeting education targets, with 30 African countries on track to reach universal primary education by 2015, but much remains to be done with 50 million children still without access to primary education.

Climate change presents not only challenges but opportunities.

While changes in rainfall patterns, as well an increase in the occurrence and severity of natural disasters and lower agricultural yields, present significant obstacles, climate change "also offers the continent new chances to profit from its vast carbon sinks, leapfrog dirty technologies, and embark on a path of low-carbon growth and clean development," the report says.

African countries are increasingly cooperating on climate issues as was evident from the "common negotiating position" at the COP 15 summit in Copenhagen, Demark.

"Nationally, many of them have formulated National Adaptation Programmes of Action and are pursuing reforms to encourage sustainable land management and combat deforestation."

The Millennium Development Goals were formulated and adopted by all the members of the United Nations in 2000. Eight goals were set with 21 "quantifiable targets" that should be achieved by 2015.

The goals, according to the United Nations Development Programme, aim to:

eradicate extreme poverty and hunger,

achieve universal primary education,

promote gender equality and empower women,

reduce child mortality,

improve maternal health,

combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases,

ensure environmental sustainability, and

develop a global partnership for development.

The Africa Progress Panel includes former heads of government Tony Blair and General Olusegun Obasanjo, human rights activist Graça Machel, micro-finance pioneer and Nobel Prize winner Professor Muhammad Yunus, Botswana banker Linah Mohohlo and musician Bob Geldof.

Also on the panel are: Michel Camdessus, former International Monetary Fund managing director; Peter Eigen, chairman of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative and founder of Transparency International; Robert Rubin, former secretary of the United States Treasury; and Tidjane Thiam, chief executive officer, Prudential PLC.

The Africa Progress Panel aims "to promote Africa's economic, social and political development" by:

contributing to and catalyzing initiatives by leaders, organizations and policy makers to develop clear positions on issues critical to the continent's future;

encouraging and monitoring the role of Africa's trading, donor and investment partners in supporting the continent's progress measured in a number of ways; including the coherence of policies as well as the levels of aid and investment;

engaging and intervening on specific issues, problems and opportunities in a politically timely manner, notably in advanceof critical decision making moments, whether in Africa or on the international stage."
The Africa Progress Panel Foundation is based in Geneva.

Experts: Opening Data Will Drive Global Knowledge

Source: World Bank

May 24, 2010

The World Bank’s decision to throw open the doors and offer free public access to its data will inspire new ways of looking at the world and new opportunities to solve global problems, two leading advocates said at the World Bank in Washington last week.

Hans Rosling of the Gapminder Foundation and US Deputy Chief Technology Officer Beth Noveck said the Bank’s open data initiative encourages greater transparency in government and institutions and accelerates the drive for more and better data, including at the sub-national level.

Rosling and Noveck added they expect the World Bank’s move will unleash competition and perhaps even ‘wiki’-like collaboration as innovators pore over the data, look for mistakes, mash it up with other data, and make it accessible to wider audiences.

One of the most important things the World Bank can do now, they said, is “get out of the way” and let the innovators go to work.

“I like competition,” said Rosling, whose data visualization software Trendalizer was designed on the premise that most people have only limited ability to absorb numbers.

“I could see a lot of software investments that could link to the free data you have here…there is such a lot of space for innovation—that is what I like about your new policy…It’s very important we allow this innovation to happen.”

Greater access to data will help dispel commonly held but erroneous notions about other countries, he said.

“The world view is a narrative – it’s a narrative we got from our parents, our teachers, our employers and our culture, and to change that narrative with good data and good statistics takes more than numbers.”

“But it can’t be done without the good numbers. And this is what we see we can do. We can really represent a completely different way of looking at the world here.”

20,000 Links to New Data Website

Last month, the World Bank Group announced free access to more than 2,000 financial, business, health, economic and human development indicators that had previously been available by subscription.

The decision—part of a larger effort to increase access to information at the World Bank—means that researchers, journalists, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), entrepreneurs and school children alike will be able to tap into the World Bank's databases via a new website, data.worldbank.org.

Since the announcement, the website has had 1.6 million page views, and 80,000 downloads of the data. About 20,000 links to data.worldbank.org are coming from non—World Bank websites.

The United States, UK and Dutch governments have also made their data available to the public in a growing trend toward open data.

The US government’s 1-year-old data.gov website has gone from offering 47 datasets initially to over 250,000 datasets; 97 million people have visited data.gov, said Noveck, author of Wiki Government.

She said opening up data is allowing the US government to solve problems by tapping the expertise of the country and the world. For example, the US Department of Agriculture is sponsoring a new “apps for healthy kids” competition to find a solution for childhood obesity.

Noveck added that her office has been contacted by several governments interested in the US open-government policy.

“I hope over the next year or two we can help to spur this in the right direction to get every country, every level of government interested in making their data available to inform and improve the way we make decisions in the global environment.”

Invest in Data, Build Statistical Capacity

Noveck said she hoped the World Bank would continue to invest in data collection, including in the knowledge and expertise of people on the ground who contribute to datasets.

“The real goal is to go from raw data to knowledge and from knowledge to better understanding of how we improve the solutions to global problems,” she said.

“And that means focusing on data, letting other people engage in data, and also invest in strategies to get civic participation and get people working with, playing with, and using that data most effectively.”

Rosling listed health and income subnational data, especially for large countries like China and India, and debt information for high income countries as data he would like to see collected.

Software such as Trendalizer is “hypothesis-generating” and a way to communicate research, but “doesn’t replace research in any way, whatsoever,” he warned.

“This is the time to invest in statistics. This is the time to cherish the experience we have in statistics. I would really like to honor the World Bank World Development Indicator (WDI) group for having done such visionary work many years ago in compiling data in unified format across the sectors. This is the valuable thing with WDI.”

East Africa to Take Part in 10-Year Research on Boosting Food Security

Source: Allafrica.com (The East African)

Nairobi, Kenya - May 24, 2010

East Africa has been earmarked for a global research programme that seeks to strike a balance between food production and environment conservation.

Faced with the new threat of climate change, the Consultative Group on International and Agricultural Research (CGIAR) and the Earth System Science Partnership (ESSP) will spearhead the 10-year challenge programme on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) starting this year.

The programme will bring together different scientists and research institutions from all over the world to tackle the three issues that are of global concern. According to the chairman of the CCAFS steering committee, Thomas Roswall, the overall goal of the research programme is to overcome threats posed by climate change in order to achieve food security, enhance livelihoods and improve environmental management.

Besides East Africa, the other regions in which the programme will be implemented are West Africa and the Indo-Gangetic Plains. The choice of the regions is based on their vulnerability to effects of climate change.

Forecasts by the Food and Agriculture Organisation indicate that the agricultural production has to be doubled by 2050 to meet the demand for food. Recently, scientists from across the world gathered in Nairobi to discuss the matter under the theme: "Building food security in the face of climate change."

Prof Roswall told the forum that besides closing critical gaps in knowledge on enhancing food security, the programme will also evaluate options for adapting to climate change. This will later go towards agricultural development, formulation of food security policies and preparation of donor investment strategies.

Models and scenarios will be developed on the available options. Farmers, policy makers, researchers and donors will then select the best option for dealing with changes in climate, track the actions they take, assess their effectiveness and adjust accordingly. The CCAFS hopes to build on this knowledge.

Interactions, synergies and trade-offs between climate change and food security will also be scrutinised. This will make agriculture and food security more resilient to climate change.

The director of CCAFS, Bruce Campbell, said that the programme also intends to mainstream climate change issues into regional and international agricultural development strategies and agenda. "We want to ensure that agriculture is included in climate change debates at all levels," he added.

Dr Campbell said that the challenge programme could be upgraded into a "mega programme" next year by the CGIAR, a network of donors that funds major agricultural research institutions across the world. The upgrade will make climate change and agriculture its first ever mega-programme, effectively designating as a 'thematic area' and resources would be directed to it as a matter of priority.

It has been a long journey towards the CCAFS that kicked off in May 2003 by scientists from CGIAR centres. This initiative soon hit a dead end and was revived only four years ago. So far, individual countries that will benefit from the research programme have not been named and officials say that they are still in the process of developing criteria for identifying the countries.

Dr Campbell said that the challenge programme area will be expanded in 2011 to include two more regions and a further three regions will be added the following year.

COMESA in Deal to Boost Food Output

Source: Allafrica.com (Daily Nation)

Nairobi, Kenya - May 24, 2010

Rural households in the Comesa region are to benefit from a Sh2 billion agreement to improve their food security.

Mr Sindiso Ngwenya, the secretary general of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa, said the 20 million euro pact with the European Union for a project known as COMRAP will increase food stocks and improve livelihoods in the region through enhancing access to finance, fertiliser, and seed.

Will alleviate

"Over the next two years, the project will improve smallholders' access to agro-inputs and the regional legal frameworks to increase agricultural productivity," he said in a statement.

Mr Ngwenya said the project will alleviate constraints faced by smallholder farmers in accessing seed, fertiliser, and financing in order to increase staple crop production.

The project stems from decisions taken by the Comesa council of ministers in 2008 to facilitate regional seed trade and provide farmers with more crop and variety at lower prices.

It will be implemented by the newly created Agricultural Commodity Trade in Eastern and Southern Africa, a Comesa initiative to support and coordinate agricultural markets and food security activities.

Rapid response

Mr Ngwenya said COMRAP is funded through the food facility and enables developing countries and regions facing financial constraints to respond rapidly to problems caused by soaring food prices.

"Comesa is responsible for harmonising policies, stabilising of agricultural commodity prices, coordination in bulk purchases of inputs, and ensuring adequate supply and availability of food commodities," he said.

The head of the EU delegation in Zambia, Dr Derek Fee, who is also accredited to the bloc, said the developing world has been hit by soaring food prices, with devastating effects on household food security.

ECOWAS recommends regional food stock to curtail food crisis

Source: Allafrica.com

Lome, Togo - May 21, 2010

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has recommended the establishment of a regional stock of foodstuffs to curtail food crisis and malnutrition in the sub-region.

The recommendation was made at the end of an extraordinary ministerial meeting held Wednesday in Lome.

The meeting also adopted several other recommendations aimed at battling food and nutritional crisis, according to Salifou Ousseini, who is in charge of agriculture, environment and water resources at the ECOWAS Commission.

He said the Commission would work with the World Food Programme (WFP) to ensure the success of the food stock programme. The plan involves the storage of foodstuffs which would be made available during the transitional period between production seasons.

Agro-Biodiversity Key to Adaptation

Source: Allafrica.com (Inter Press Service)

May 21, 2010

Mechanisation, increased use of fertilisers, and the planting of hybrid seeds have underpinned huge increases in the world's agricultural output over the past 40 years.

Biotechnology is the latest gambit, but agronomists warn that climate change could wipe out that progress unless farmers begin combining these with indigenous knowledge.

"The world is headed for an anticlimax. Climate change is already frustrating agricultural productivity all over," said Dr Frank Attere, the Special Assistant to the President of the Alliance for Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA).

"And if this continues, the world will be left without indigenous seed that can survive all weather conditions, and this would lead to serious food insecurity and loss of biodiversity in the coming generations."

AGRA is an NGO working to achieve food security in Africa by promoting productive and sustainable agriculture among smallholder farmers. The Alliance aims to do this by ensuring the availability of good seeds, the protection of healthy soils and better access to information, markets and financing, storage and transport.

A paper released at one of the side events of the big biodiversity conference taking place in Nairobi, Kenya, reveals that as fears rise over the impact of climate change on agricultural productivity, traditional agricultural and pastoralist communities worldwide are amongst those with the most resilient mechanisms to cope.

The conference in Nairobi is the Fourteenth meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice of the Convention on Biodiversity (SBSTTA 14); taking place at the United Nations Environment Programme's buildings, in conjunction with the Third Meeting of the Working Group on the Review of the Implementation (WGRI 3, if anyone asks). The purpose is to provide advice relating to the implementation of the Convention on Biological Diversity.

"The Use of Agrobiodiversity by Indigenous and Traditional Agricultural Communities in Adapting to Climate Change", put together by out by a consortium of researchers, farmers and policy-makers united as the Platform for Agrobiodiversity Research, provides examples from all over the developing world.

"Farmers in Eastern Kenya are employing permaculture, a traditional farming method where different types of crops ranging from vines to fruits trees are grown together as a strategy to cope with erratic weather," said Patrick Maundu, an ethno-botanist at the National Museum of Kenya, and a representative of farmers from eastern Kenya.

The eastern part of the country, commonly referred to as "Ukambani" in Swahili, is mostly semi-arid, receiving only erratic rainfall with long spells of drought that can last as long as three years.

To survive this long-standing dryness - which could potentially be aggravated by climate change - crops grown here include perennials such as indigenous fruits which cope well in erratic weather; important legumes such as pigeon pea, lablab, climbing bean (ngelenge) and creeping forms of cowpeas (ndamba) which have been successfully cultivated in these tough conditions for generations.

"Such indigenous knowledge is what must be integrated with the new technology in order to develop resilience to climate change especially for the next generations," said Dr Attere.

Another example, from Burkina Faso, talks about how farmers in the country have resisted desertification and rehabilitated degraded land through planting trees in the fields and around villages.

They also use traditional water harvesting and storage methods, and soil moisture storage techniques such as zai-pits. A zai-pit is a square hole 60 centimetres deep and 60 by 60 cm wide, sunk into dry, sandy soil. It is filled with compost manure mixed with topsoil. When, the mixture of compost and topsoil is saturated say with rain water (or by irrigation), it is able to retain moisture for several days - whereas the sandy soil that surround it dries out again almost immediately.

In drought prone regions of Bangladesh, the resilience of traditional homestead gardens is strengthened through intercropping of fruit trees with vegetables, small scale irrigation and organic fertilisers. In the flood-affected regions, floating gardens have been created for cultivation of mixed traditional crops, red amaranth and kohlrabi.

"Adaptation to climate change has usually involved a range of different actions at all three levels: ecosystem or landscape, farm or agricultural system, and involving both inter and intra-specific diversity" said Paul Bordoni of the Platform for Agro-biodiversity Research, Climate Change Project.

He said that maintenance of intra- and inter-species diversity using traditional crops and livestock and access to new diversity is a good way of adaptation and resilience against climate change.

"But there is an urgent need to revive traditional farming practices. The continuous process of innovation requires involvement and the use of traditional knowledge combined with access to new knowledge," Bordoni said.

This message brushes against the grain at a time when market forces as well as government policy and subsidies more commonly promote agricultural techniques that threaten the survival of indigenous farming knowledge.

The promotion of improved seed - whether conventionally developed hybrids or genetically modified - and the distribution of industrially-produced fertiliser is generally seen as a replacement for traditional varieties and methods.

"We appreciate all these technologies," said Attere. "The biggest problem is that once they are tried, the harvests are in most cases very high, to the extent that farmers may seek to destroy all the indigenous species on their farm due to the low yield and poor quality."

He continued: "While destroying the indigenous variety, we very quickly forget that the technologically improved variety was developed from the same varieties we are condemning. Society must make a step back and return to learn once again from indigenous communities."

Bordoni observed that local agrobiodiversity could be the basis for integration of adaptation and protection of indigenous peoples' rights.

Kenya Launches National Biosafety Authority Board

Source: Biotech Crop Update

May 21, 2010

Kenya's Minister for Higher Education, Science and Technology William Ruto launched the National Biosafety Authority (NBA) Board on May 13, 2010. In his speech during the launch, the Minister said that the government was committed to conduct business in the area of biotechnology in a transparent manner under a biosafety system that will be enforceable by the Biosafety Law. Public participation will be a priority. The Minister stressed that Kenyans are eagerly waiting to see how the Board will make the country move forward to enhance modern biotechnology and in particular regulate genetically modified organisms and their derived products.

Establishment of the NBA board is a key provision in the Biosafety Act. The Board is a broad based multi-stakeholder entity composed of eminent scientists, permanent secretaries from key Ministries, directors of biosafety regulatory agencies and representatives of farmers, consumers and the private sector.

The Minister said that the world recognizes the potential role that biotechnology can play in alleviating hunger, poverty and diseases. He noted that the safe application of biotechnology in areas such as agriculture, human health, animal production, trade, industry and environmental management has demonstrated its being one of the best options for development. India and China, he said, are nations that have mobilized commercial capabilities of biotechnology and have taken deliberate policy decisions at highest political and technical levels to harness the benefits of promising technologies such as Bt cotton. The Minister singled out South Africa, Egypt and Burkina Faso as the only countries in Africa which have invested in commercial production of biotech crops. Burkina Faso, for example, has demonstrated that Bt cotton can increase yields by 30%, reduce insecticides application by 50%, and generate higher household incomes.

Hon. William Roto called for concerted efforts to assist Kenyan farmers to adopt the cultivation of Bt cotton by next year so that the cotton industry in the country can be revitalized. In addition, he mentioned that Kenya needs to assess opportunities that introduction of appropriate technologies offer to meet the challenges of feeding a growing population.

For more information, contact Harrison K. Macharia of the National Biosafety Authority at harimacharia@yahoo.com.

President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf's Remarks at Chicago Council Symposium: “The Role of Agriculture in Post-Conflict Recovery: The Case of Liberia”

Source: Allafrica.com

Washington, DC - May 20, 2010

Statement by Her Excellency Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, President of the Republic of Liberia

"The Role of Agriculture in Post-Conflict Recovery: The Case of Liberia"
Symposium on Global Agriculture and Food Security
Global Agricultural Development Initiative

Mayflower Renaissance Hotel

Moderator (Dan Glickman, former Secretary of Agriculture);
Honorable Thomas Vilsack (Secretary of Agriculture);
Dr. Rajiv Shah (USAID Administrator);
Mr. Marshall Bouton (President Chicago Council on Global Affairs)
Ms. Catherine Bertini (Symposium Co-Chair)
Members of Congress Present;
Development Partners;
Distinguished Guests;
Ladies and Gentlemen;

Friends:

I thank you, Mr. Mouton and Mr. Glickman and the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, for the kind invitation, and the opportunity to join so many of you in this room and the several other key personalities to speak at this important Symposium on the role of agriculture in the post-conflict recovery of my country, Liberia. You will note that I am wearing green symbolizing the agriculture potential of my country.

In 2006, Liberia started the long road back from a civil conflict that decimated the country’s infrastructure and institutions, a situation compounded by a population that fled to the urban areas leaving the land unproductive.

In the past four years, under the four pillars of our Poverty Reduction or ‘Lift Liberia’ Strategy, we have restored growth to an average annual 7 percent, tackled a $4.9 billion external debt overhang, made strong progress on consolidating peace and national security, reactivating our mining, agriculture and forestry sectors, promoted the institutions of good governance and the rule of law and rehabilitating infrastructure to extend basic services to our 3.5 million population.

Yet the challenges remain awesome and our nation fragile in the face of raised expectations and the several stumbling blocks, including the 2008/2009 global financial crisis, that have slowed the pace of recovery and reform.

Poverty continues to be the most significant determinant of food access in many parts of Liberia although 70 percent of the population depends on agriculture. Recognizing that agricultural growth is more effective in reducing poverty than any effort in any other sector, our Government is placing emphasis on this strategic sector both in terms of exports and food security at home.

Our policy goal in the sector is to revitalize operations and activities that contribute to sustainable economic growth and development; to provide food security and nutrition; and to increase farmers’ employment and income – all aimed at measurably reducing poverty.

While our commitment to agriculture is unequivocal, I must acknowledge that public financing of the sector is still woefully inadequate. The share of our national budget allocated to agricultural institutions and activities rose from US$3 million in 2006 to US$7 million in 2009 but this still represents a mere 2 percent of our budget.

Moreover, I can say, quite candidly, that despite the policies and strategies, our population is still highly vulnerable to chronic food insecurity, stemming from physical and human capital constraints, poor natural resource and farm management practices, and poor health and nutrition practices.

We are, nevertheless, intensifying our efforts to achieve the desired results. To grow the economy, we embarked upon a “Back to the Soil” Campaign that resulted in significant increase in food production, particularly of our staples as rice and cassava. Rice production, for example, increased from 85,000 metric tons in 2006 to about 200,000 metric tons in 2009 - a 43 percent increase. The increase in food production has led the World Food Program (WFP), for the first time, to purchase locally produced rice for use in its school-feeding program.

The programs that supported the results have also trained 30,397 farmers providing them with new farming methods and provided 15,000 vulnerable farmers and 169 farmer groups with seed rice. Our success would have been even greater if more farmers had been able to use lowland areas where yields in rice production is highest compared to other ecologies, and where rice could be cultivated two or three times per year.

The reluctance of farmers to use fertile lowlands is due to the health consequences resulting from the prevalence of schistosomiasis and other water-borne diseases which multiplied during the long period of our civil unrest. We continue to mobilize support from our partners to help clean up these fertile lowlands for cultivation of rice to ensure self-sufficiency.

It is very clear to us that agriculture has the potential to become a major source of employment, most especially for the thousands of our citizens, especially women and youth who, as casualties of the war, lack essential skills, but who can learn to farm the land. Our objective is to consolidate them into a productive and dynamic entity for national development. Jobs in the farming sector is one of the means of accomplishing that aim.

If Liberia can grow its own food and be self-sufficient, and we have the potential to do so due to the large territorial farmable soils, the tropical climate and abundant water resources, the country would then be insulated from the effects of the soaring global food prices, which we experienced in 2008.

This is why in 2009, we developed and validated the Liberia Agriculture Sector Investment Program (LASIP), which is guiding our Ministry of Agriculture and our development partners in better coordinating activities aimed at Liberia’s agricultural development.

This Program is in line with our development agenda as well as the framework of the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Program (CAADP). It is encouraging that the major donor agencies have committed their institutions to using this framework as a viable vehicle to provide assistance to African countries in the development of their agricultural sectors and to ensure food security.

We believe that with consistency in efforts and resources, our agriculture sector with is transitioning from “emergency” to “development”, which includes sustainability and improved livelihood. At the core of this transition is the transformation of smallholder agriculture into a sustainable diversified, income-generating sector that is well integrated into markets – one in which commercial agriculture provides support and incentives to small farmers.

To achieve this objective, our public sector agriculture investment priorities between 2010 and 2013 include food and nutrition security; competitive value chains and market linkages; institutional development; and land and water development.

In an emerging market-driven economy like Liberia’s, a large share of the actual development of agriculture is carried out by the private sector through their involvement in different facets of production, processing, servicing and trade. Government’s role in this regard is to provide the enabling environment for the private sector to thrive.

My Government recognizes the importance of private sector-led growth in the productive sector, and has therefore entered into concession agreements with investors for development of the agriculture sector. These agreements give agriculture investors the right to undertake productive activities in areas of their choice, and to work with smallholders through out-grower arrangements supported by the public sector.

Private-sector investment is picking up in our country and various projects will produce a stream of income for Liberia in the years to come. We are pleased to note that as of March 2010, committed private sector investment in agriculture in Liberia totaled US$1.1 billion. This includes US$847 million investment for the cultivation of rubber and oil palm by the Malaysian firm Sime Darby Borland. Investments from the large plantation sector, which include out-grower schemes will result in thousands of jobs and exports, but it will take time to show results.

We believes that once the private sector investments in palm oil, rubber, rice and logging come fully “on line,” our Government will be able to receive more resources from the exportation of products from these investments. This will enable the Government to invest more in agriculture, allowing us to move toward the Maputo Declaration promise of a minimum of 10 percent budget allocation to the sector.

We recognize that increased budgetary support alone will not be sufficient to achieve and sustain the required transformation of Liberia’s agriculture sector. Therefore, we continue to work with partners especially the United States to help Liberia to “kick start” the process of stabilizing the country and the agriculture sector through the “Food for the Future” program, launched recently by USAID.

Of critical importance is investment in infrastructure, most critical, farm to market roads, investments in transportation, particularly the port.

USAID/Liberia’s Food and Enterprise Development Project (FED) is a vehicle to support Liberia’s agriculture development agenda focusing on improving rural infrastructure, primarily rural farm to market roads, and the MOA’s capacity to promote the dissemination and adoption of improved agricultural technologies and practices. This is exactly the right program and the right time for Liberia.

Moreover, we applaud the initiatives of the Obama Administration presented here today by Dr. Rajiv Shah, the “Global Hunger and Food Security Initiative” and the “Feed the Future Initiative.” What is most appealing from the Liberian perspective about these U.S. initiatives is that they encourage the participation of key groups, including farmers, civil society organizations, especially women, and they also promote strong regulatory policies, governance and accountability.

We see this new initiative as a compliment to the Millennium Challenge Corporation, which recently qualified Liberia as a threshold nation in that it supports home-grown strategies and rewards governments that invest in their own people and govern responsibly.

Liberia is pleased to have been selected as one of 20 target countries and hope and will strive to achieve status as an investment plan country.

In closing, permit me to commend the excellent work of your in-county representatives – the U.S. Embassy and USAID – who support our goals in the development of Liberia’s agriculture and rural sector in promoting sustainable peace.

We strongly believe that with our commitment and hard work, together with your continuous support, we can indeed bring stability and we can bring prosperity to the Liberian people to a nation once characterized as a failed state. We can become a post conflict success story building upon our agriculture activities.

I thank you.

Experts to Debate How Govt Can Help Small-Scale Farming

Source: Allafrica.com (Institute for Democracy in South Africa)

Cape Town, South Africa - May 20, 2010

“It is unjust that Africans continue to starve and small-scale farmers to scratch for an existence on a continent with such great potential, and in a global environment of high food prices,” Paul Graham, the executive director of African democracy institute Idasa, said in a new study released by the organisation.

The publication records the findings of an Idasa conference on small-scale agriculture in Southern Africa, where participants noted a need to move away from a reliance on donor funding, as donor agencies often dictate the recipients’ development agenda. African governments must mobilise domestic resources to fund and implement policies, the study concluded.

A follow-up conference is to be hosted by African democracy institute Idasa in Nairobi, Kenya, from 8-10 November. Entitled "Governance and Small-scale Agriculture in West Africa" it will examine governance and public investment processes and how these are shaping small-scale agriculture in the region.

The Idasa report was compiled by Leslie Nyagah, who heads the Public Expenditure and Smallholder Agriculture project, which is part of Idasa’s Economic Governance Programme, records the models for small-scale agriculture in different parts of Southern Africa.

Africa has the potential to be food secure and a key indicator of good governance among African countries would be when a government successfully feeds its nation, Nyagah concluded in the report.

To ensure continuation from one administration to another, sound agricultural policies should not be politicised, he said, noting that development strategies can only work in environments that are peaceful and free of corruption.

Also, smallholder farmers need access to credit. Investment has traditionally been skewed in favour of large-scale operations that have collateral or receive government support. It is therefore important to provide similar incentives for smallholder farmers such as tax relief.

Only 19% of African countries have met the commitment stipulated in the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme drawn up by the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) to allocate more than 10% of their national expenditure to agriculture.

Malawi is the best performing country in the Southern African Development Community in this regard, allocating on average 12.3% a year on agriculture between 2004-05 and 2006-07.

The study found, for example, that improved revenue collection in Malawi has enabled the implementation of the government’s fertilizer subsidy programme without donor funding, and without diverting resources from other sectors.

However, the ultimate target of the 10% protocol is the halving of poverty and hunger by 2015. Yet the trends in agriculture expenditure in proportion to total expenditure are not improving.

Archbishop Njongonkulu Ndungane, founder of African Monitor, an independent pan-African nonprofit, said at the Idasa conference held in November 2009, which covered Southern Africa, that it is unfortunate that the agricultural sector, which feeds both the rich and the poor and is a backbone of economies, contributing highly to national GDPs, receives less than 10% of most of Africa’s national budgets.

Many African countries have in place agricultural development strategies that are pro-poor and aim at improving the agricultural sector. Participants at the Southern African conference agreed that these should be implemented, rather than new strategies formulated.

Idasa’s meeting in Nairobi later this year will focus on three themes: priorities for public investment in agriculture; trends in public expenditure on small-scale agriculture; and policy processes and stakeholder participation.

The need for global food security requires a recognition not only of the importance of smallholder farming in meeting the food needs of the global population but also of the significance of producing food for the poor by the poor who have often been marginalised in policy and budgetary decisions.

A shift in thinking across the continent will be required before changes start to happen, Nyagah said. The lack of effective farmer organisations and limited support from civil society groups has undermined the ability of smallholder farmers to put pressure on governments through sustained lobbying for an adequate share of public expenditure.

Participatory budget-making conjures up possibilities of increased participation for smallholder farmers and the rural poor in agriculture policy-making processes, thus raising the political stake of smallholder farmers while helping improve governance of the sector.

Idasa is calling for papers for the "Governance and Small-scale Agriculture in West Africa" conference to be held in November. Abstracts and final papers from West African participants will be accorded preference. For more information, contact Leslie Nyagah, Public Expenditure and Smallholder Agriculture project, in Idasa’s Economic Governance Programme at lnyagah@idasa.org.za by 31 May.

Reps to establish biosafety commission

Source: Daily Sun

Abuja, Nigeria - May 17, 2010

Following the submission of the reports on a bill to establish Nigeria Biosafety Commission by the joint Committees on Science and Technology and Agriculture, the House of Representatives is set to pass the bill for the management of biosafety in the country.

According to the report, the commission would ensure improved earnings from agro-allied services, food security and environmental sustainability in the country. Chairman of Science and Technology committee, Hon Abiodun Akinlade said that reports on the public hearing conducted with the Committee on Agriculture would provide a regulatory framework for activities in the nation’s biotechnology sector, which he noted was long overdue.

The report, now awaiting consideration in the House is to ensure that the practice of biotechnology is undertaken within the scope of regulatory system, which would guarantee its safe application in the country and protect the nation’s biodiversity, minimize risks to human health and protect environment.

“With the anticipated consideration and passage of the reports, Nigeria would have joined the league of nations that are interested in tapping into modern biotechnology and genetically modified organisms and their products; we would have joined other African nations including Mali, South Africa and Kenya in putting in place a regulatory mechanism in the biotechnology sector for human development,” he stated after the report was submitted.

According to him, the need for a biotechnology law to ensure food security and sustainability began in the 90s and was capped with the government signing Cartegena Protocol on Biosafety (CPB) in the year 2000.
The protocol he explained was designed to ensure adequate protection in the transfer, handling and use of living modified organisms in case of adverse effects taking into consideration risks to human health on trans-border movement.

“Although government adopted biotechnology policy as an alternative tool for sustainable and improved food production by establishing National Biotechnology Development Agency, there have been deficiencies in relation to the safety of the practice,” he observed.

But when the law is passed, Akinlade noted that it would ensure the establishment of a biosafety agency that would ensure regulation in the practice, adding that the common-place researches into biotechnology, have made the passage of the law inevitable.

While highlighting the need to employ the practice with a view to harness the benefits of modern biotechnology offers in the areas of improved agriculture, food production, medicine, environmental protection and industrial growth, the benefits of the bill when passed into law would encourage the regulation of the system.

Farmers need inputs, roads

Source: CAADP News (Tanzania

Daily News)

May 11, 2010

African Green Revolution Forum partners have said that smallholder farmers in Africa need access to farm inputs, infrastructure and water to become commercially viable farmers. They also need to deliver their products to markets.

The partners behind the African Green Revolution Forum (AGRF) have now announced that Ghana will host the first Africa-based Forum in Accra from 1-4 September this year.

This new initiative seeks to catalyse investments and increased co-operation to drive development of African agriculture. Behind the initiative are AGRA (Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa), Yara International (who first initiated the conference in Oslo, Norway in 2006), NEPAD and Standard Bank.

"The African Green Revolution Forum will bring public and private sector stakeholders together aiming to boost Africa's agricultural development," says Namanga Ngongi, President of AGRA.

He says that the rapidly increasing demand for food presents both challenges and opportunities for Africa. "We want to inspire action and public-private partnerships that boost both smallholder and commercial farming."

For smallholder farmers in Africa to become commercially viable and get their products to markets, they need access to fertilizer, seeds and water to increase yield and infrastructure, including electricity, roads and railways, to get their products to markets.

He said that public-private partnerships are key to creating momentum and real progress. The Forum will bring together leaders from governments in Africa, global enterprises, development agencies and world experts on agricultural development to drive partnership-action within five specific areas.

He mentioned the areas as investment opportunity, the policy environment, reducing the cost of finance, increasing agricultural productivity and increasing financial returns to farmers.

He said that transformation of agricultural development and infrastructure in Africa is key to fighting poverty and hunger and in reaching the Millennium Development Goals.

Africa's agricultural post-harvest losses offer opportunity for the private sector

Source: CAADP News (Modern

Ghana

)

May 11, 2010

Post-harvest losses in Africa have opened a vista of untapped opportunities for agro-processors willing to invest in the continent. The opportunities are coming at a time when crop improvement programs by the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture and national partners are offering better varieties and increasing yield.

“This makes the private sector a key partner in providing solution to the losses,” said Peter Hartmann, IITA Director General during a courtesy visit by the Swedish Ambassador to Nigeria, Per Lindgärde, to IITA in Ibadan. Ambassador Lindgärde and Director-General Hartmann exchanged ideas on some of the agricultural challenges of Nigeria and Africa.

In Kenya alone, annual postharvest losses in crops like bananas are estimated at more than 50 per cent but the figure is often higher in other parts of Africa. In Nigeria, the second biggest economy in sub-Saharan Africa, losses easily exceed one-third for many crops. “Even in countries that are famine-prone, post harvest losses are still a huge challenge,” Hartmann said.

“Choose any market in Africa and take a walk during the close of the day and you will see heaps of food that is waste,” he added.

Over the years, IITA in collaboration with national partners has developed technologies to tackle postharvest losses via processing of Africa's major staples including cassava, maize, bananas, and cowpeas.

“But this has been done piecemeal and on test sites. There is a need for such efforts at a pan African-scale and this means getting the private sector – small and big - involved. ” Hartmann said.

He explained that apart from poor infrastructure which is the continent's Achilles' heel, Africa needed more investments in processing and packaging of agricultural products.

According to him, the current number of agricultural processing firms is low compared with the demand.

On the achievement of IITA in Africa, Hartman said the Institute had created impact through its research-for-development approach.

Using

Nigeria

as a case study, the director-general said IITA's contribution to the country was to join Nigerians to make the country the world's largest producer of cassava and a reference to other African nations.

“We also championed the soybean revolution in Nigeria and the country became the largest producer in Africa,” he said.

He pointed out that the Institute's biological control had saved Africa's cassava against mealybug, adding that presently IITA is assisting Thailand in solving a similar challenge that once faced Africa.

Promoting Regional Integration, Food Security in Africa

Source: Counterpoint Newsletter, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars

May 2010

A renewed focus on Africa’s economies, partly spurred by the onset of the global economic crisis and the subsequent tightening of foreign aid budgets, has also drawn attention to the importance of food security and sustainable growth of the agricultural sector. The nations of sub-Saharan Africa in particular continue to face deep structural economic problems. While international donors in recent years were preoccupied with securing their own economic survival, food shortages have revived the emphasis on dealing with Africa’s structural deficiencies and building a strong foundation for sustainable growth.

In early March, the Africa Program hosted a conference on food security and regional integration in Africa, focusing largely on infrastructure and development. The conference was co-sponsored by the Partnership to Cut Hunger and Poverty in Africa, the German Marshall Fund, and the International Food & Agricultural Trade Policy Council. John Sewell, a Wilson Center senior fellow and former president of the Overseas Development Council, opened and moderated the conference. Read more about conference outcomes here.

Just Released: IFAD-WFP Study on Weather Index-based Insurance

Source: International Fund for Agricultural Development

May 26, 2010

In partnership with WFP, IFAD has just released its new publication The Potential for Scale and Sustainability in Weather Index Insurance for Agriculture and Rural Livelihoods. Detailing how weather index-based insurance can contribute to agricultural development and disaster response, this paper brings together lessons from a range of experiences from around the world. The paper distills eight key principles for the scale and sustainability of index insurance and outlines how donors and governments can support such risk management initiatives. Launched in 2008 with the support of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, this joint IFAD-WFP initiative builds on IFAD’s experience in rural finance and WFP’s focus on climate change and disaster risk reduction and works to support weather risk management tools for agricultural development and disaster relief.

OECD DAC May Newsletter: New Roads to Development

Source: OECD Development Assistance Committee

May 2010

The DAC is expanding its partnerships to deepen its impact on development. This reflects not only the increasing complexity of the challenges involved, but also the incredible richness of experience and insights that are available. This issue of DACnews focuses on several of these new “roads to development” and how they are making a mark on the way the DAC works.

Jon Lomøy named Director of DCD
Jon Lomøy, a Norwegian national who has devoted his professional career to development, joined the OECD as Director of the Development Co-operation Directorate in April. Read more…

Aid effectiveness going South?
When it comes to making headway in development, partners in Southern countries have much to offer. This was highlighted by 110 case stories from 133 developing countries presented at a recent meeting in Bogota. Read more…

Modernising multilateralism
In an increasingly broad global development community, new partnerships can help “modernise multilateralism” by encouraging sharing of modalities and strategies in development finance. Read more…

DAC Senior Level Meeting (SLM)
The DAC’s evolving role in addressing current development finance challenges was high on the agenda at the recent DAC Senior Level Meeting. In a special session, participants also took stock of the collective response to the Haiti earthquake. Read more…

Fragile states speak up
In Dili, East Timor, recent debates on peacebuilding and statebuilding marked a profound change in the way development issues are discussed. Read more…

Feature Article
Effective aid can enable developing countries to move beyond aid dependence and achieve development effectiveness. In this edition’s feature article, Ghana’s Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Hon. Dr. Kwabena Duffuor, shares his perspective on how this can happen. Read more…

Mutant wheat killer on the prowl

Source: IRIN News

Johannesburg, South Africa - May 26, 2010

Just when scientists thought they had managed to curb a mutant fungus, Ug99, a variation of wheat stem rust, four new forms of the killer pathogen have surfaced in the last three years, posing a significant threat to the world's most consumed cereal.

The newest mutation, or race, of Ug99 was discovered in 2009 in South Africa; another was found in the wheat-growing belt of South Africa's Western Cape Province in 2007, said Zak Pretorius, professor of plant pathology at University of the Free State.

The other two variations of Ug99 were found in 2006 and 2007 in Kenya, from where they spread rapidly to Ethiopia and then across the Red Sea to Yemen and Iran.

Ethiopia and Kenya had serious wheat rust epidemics with considerable yield losses in 2007, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), which has estimated that up to 80 percent of all wheat varieties planted in Asia and Africa are susceptible to Ug99.

Wheat stem rust, also known as wheat black rust, can destroy entire fields and even whole crops. The pathogen enters the stems of the plant and destroys the vascular tissue.

There are three types of rust that can harm wheat, but stem rust, of which Ug99 is a variant, is the most feared, according to the Borlaug Global Rust Initiative, named after Nobel Laureate wheat scientist Norman Borlaug, who drew attention to the threat posed by the fungus before his death in 2009.

The initiative led by Borlaug and other international wheat scientists was formed after the last major stem rust epidemic swept across North America's wheat fields in the early 1950s, destroying up to 40 percent of the crop. The initiative contributed to the development of rust-resistant varieties until Ug99 surfaced in Uganda in 1999, which it named.

"We will now have to make sure that every new wheat variety we release has iron-clad resistance to both Ug99 and the new races," said Ravi Singh, senior scientist in plant genetics and pathology at the Mexico-based International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre (CIMMYT).

"With the new mutations we are seeing, countries cannot afford to wait until rust 'bites' them," he said. "The variant of Ug99 identified in Kenya, for example, went from first detection in trace amounts in one year [2006] to epidemic proportions the next year."

The new mutants

The new mutations or "races" have acquired the ability to defeat two of the most important stem rust-resistant genes, used widely in most of the world's wheat breeding programmes. Singh said when the new race of Ug99 surfaced in Kenya, CIMMYT had to delay releasing new lines of wheat that had only one of the stem-rust resistant genes.

The rust fungus, which causes rust-coloured patches in the infected parts of the plant, spreads by spores that can survive harsh winters but germinate in warmer conditions and are usually transported by the wind - but sometimes even on clothing - over long distances and across continents.

South African scientist Pretorius, who characterized the new races, will present his findings at a two-day meeting of global wheat experts on fighting stem rust starting on 30 May in St Petersburg, Russia.

"My greenhouse work showed that from a collection of 129 South African commercial cultivars and advanced breeding lines tested, 47 percent are susceptible in the seedling stage to one or both of the new stem rust races," said Pretorius.

The good news is that the disease can be prevented by using fungicides. In South Africa, wheat is grown by commercial farmers who are aware of the threat, but small-scale farmers in developing countries, who often do not have access to the fungicides or information about the disease, are most susceptible.

South Africa grows about two million tonnes of its annual wheat requirement of between 2.8 million tonnes and three million tonnes, most of which is used to produce bread. "An outbreak could have serious consequences, as we already depend on imports," Pretorius said. "The bigger threat is that of the spores spreading to neighbouring countries and continents, where small-scale farmers with limited resources grow wheat."

The safest option is to keep on developing varieties that are resistant to stem rust. CIMMYT's Singh explained that the centre had developed several minor rust-resistant genes, which were pooled together to counter the infection, giving them an edge over single rust-resistant genes. "Several minor rust-resistant genes makes it more difficult for the fungus to attack and break down [the pooled genes]."

Singh said efforts were also being directed toward producing high-yielding rust-resistant varieties of wheat to motivate farmers to plant them. "Many farmers in developing countries are not aware of, or reluctant to use, the rust-resistant varieties."

Kenya: Warning over disposal of toxic maize
Source: IRIN News

Nairobi, Kenya - May 26, 2010

The plan by the Kenya National Cereals and Produce Board to buy contaminated maize from farmers must also ensure the grain is properly destroyed and does not find its way back to the market, agricultural and environmental experts warn.

The plan follows a government decision to buy the maize, which contains aflotoxins, to prevent its consumption. It followed an alert issued on 10 May that aflatoxin had been found in maize samples from Eastern and Coast provinces.

"Whichever way the disposal is carried out, care should be taken to ensure the contaminated maize does not enter the food chain in any form," an agricultural researcher said. "There are several ways of disposal; we have chemical decontamination - which is expensive and not yet available in the country - and conversion of the maize to industrial use, such as glue, starch or methylated spirit."

Agricultural officials estimate that at least 300,000 bags out of four million could be contaminated, following poor handling that resulted in a high moisture content in the grains.

Consumption of such maize, they say, could lead to aflatoxicosis. Since 2004, at least 200 people have died across Kenya after eating aflatoxin-infected maize, according to health and agricultural officials. Its symptoms include jaundice, fever, abdominal swelling, vomiting, swollen feet or hands and diarrhea. The condition can cause neurological impairment and stunted growth.

"Lack of proper handling from harvesting, drying, and preparation for shelling to storage, predisposes the grain to fungal attack," Joseph Ngetich, the deputy director of agriculture in charge of the plant protection services division, told IRIN on 26 May.

"If the maize is shelled by beating, the result could be a lot of broken grain, and if it is not stored in bags made of natural fibre and in well-aerated storage, the grain is again predisposed to fungal attack."

Ngetich said the stored maize should be treated with the adequate pesticides to prevent insect attacks, which could also lead to aflatoxin contamination.

"Care should be taken so that the maize does not get contaminated even before storage; in fact, without laboratory testing, it is difficult to tell with the naked eye the clean maize from the contaminated one," he said. "It is possible to have contaminated but clean-looking maize and to have mouldy-looking maize that is not contaminated."

Funding set aside

On 22 May, Kareke Mbiuki, assistant minister for agriculture, said the government had set aside Ksh2 billion (US$26 million) to buy suspected bad maize in Eastern province.

The agricultural researcher, who requested anonymity, told IRIN: "The only way out is to get all the contaminated maize, [assess] the extent of contamination and decide what should be declared fit for human consumption, what can be used in formulation of animal feeds and what can go to industrial use. The highly contaminated maize should be destroyed through incineration."

Officials from the Ministry of Agriculture and those from the Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Services have taken samples from maize in the affected areas and are analyzing them to determine the extent of contamination.

A 6 May report, compiled by the National Cereals and Produce Board, indicated that out of 1,600,000, 90kg bags the government purchased in Eastern and Coastal areas, 103,000 bags had "very high levels" of aflatoxin.

According to February 2010 Ministry of Agriculture projections, a harvest of 4.3 million bags from Eastern province and about 6.7 million bags for the whole country was expected between February and April.

USAID & USDA Announce 2010 International Food Aid & Development Conference

Conference Theme: Partnerships for a Better Future

The conference held this year will be the twelfth conference, which has become the largest food aid and agricultural development conference in the U.S. In 2009, the attendance had more than 650 participants from over 20 countries with representation from the food and agriculture industries, maritime and rail transportation, ports, private voluntary and non-governmental organizations, and US and foreign governments.

Conference Dates & Location:

August 2 - 4, 2010
Westin Crown Center Hotel
Kansas City, Missouri

Topics:
• Food Security
• Logistics Issues
• Agricultural Development
• Public-Private Partnerships
• Commodity Cargo Handling
• Value Added Products & Nutrition
• Supply Chain Management

For conference information and registration, click here.

White House Releases National Security Strategy

May 27, 2010

Today, the White House released a new National Security Strategy paper, which includes sections on sustainable agricultural development and building food security for increased national security. To read the full document, please visit: http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/rss_viewer/national_security_strategy.pdf

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