G8 Countries Set to Strengthen African Agriculture

The G8 heads of state were under considerable political pressure to address the dire situation facing most of Africa in view of the food price hike and to follow through on the pledge made at the 2005 summit. Prior to the meeting, Japan announced its decision to double its assistance, and at the summit the EU presented a plan to divert money for subsidizing European agriculture to supporting agricultural production in Africa.

The G8 summit 2008 was held in Toyako, Japan, July 7–9, and for the first time a number of non-member states were invited for discussions: a group of African countries (Algeria, Ethiopia, Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, and Tanzania) and so-called major economies: Australia, Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Mexico, South Korea – and South Africa.

Focus on Africa

African affairs were high on the G8 agenda, and addressed at the opening day of the summit, with African leaders asking the G8 members to help increase the continent’s food production capacity and provide appropriate technology, with seeds and fertilizers for the next planting season, to start in September. In response, the summit pledged to aid the African agricultural sector, particularly the small farmers, and continue the emergency response during the food crisis.

Leading up to the summit, the G8 leaders had come under increased pressure to stick to the pledge made at the Gleneagles summit in 2005, increasing aid to Africa so that the continent may meet the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The promised doubling of aid, to USD 50 billion annually by 2010, is lagging far behind: Under current spending plans the group will fall USD 40 billion short of target.

At Toyako, the European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso told the summit that the EU will channel EUR 1 billion in unused European farm subsidies to African farmers as part of its response to the global food crisis. The funds are to be disbursed in 2008 and 2009, going into a fund intended for seeds and fertilizers as well as various agricultural projects in Africa. In his statement at the outreach session with African leaders at Toyako, Mr. Barroso said the MDGs are a credibility test for the G8 and the international community. In order to pass that test, he said, the G8 leaders must reaffirm existing commitments.

The MDB Steering Group for Africa, set up by the UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki Moon, has called for a quadrupling of external financing for African agriculture by 2010; from USD 1–2 billion to USD 8 billion. Mr. Ban joined the summit, declaring, i.a., that the effects of global warming are already harming Africa’s agriculture.

Call for Revolution

The UN Rome-based agriculture and food agencies, the FAO, the IFAD, and the WFP, jointly called on the G8 for a decisive blow on hunger – to help feed the world by contributing to a new green revolution through much-increased public financing to developing the sector. One reason for the current world food crisis, the agencies noted, is the dramatic decline in agricultural investments over the past three decades, when official development assistance to agriculture tumbled from 17 % of the total to just around 3 % in 2006.

Catalyzing public and private investment would accelerate the anti-hunger strategy contained in the declaration from the June food crisis summit in Rome, the agencies said, calling for a new “twice-green revolution” – a G2R – with the aim of doubling global food production by mid-century in order to feed a world population expected to reach over 9 billion.

“Social, economic and environmental concerns demand that the farming revolution we are embarking on not only produces much more but does so in an environmentally sustainable manner,” the statement said. “Tomorrow’s agriculture must also help adapt local farming systems to the rapidly increasing challenges and constraints of climate change and assist communities in mitigating its effects.”