More than 20 African civil society organizations on Wednesday called on the governments to allocate 10 percent of their national budgets to agriculture to promote sustainable food security in order to avert food crisis.
The activists, who met in Nairobi from June 16-18 ahead of a high-level FAO meeting in Nairobi on Thursday, urged African institutions to provide solidarity and technical supports to civil society networks working on food security in order to fully engage in developing viable alternatives for agrarian and rural development.
"African countries must fulfill the commitment of allocating a minimum of 10 percent of their national budget to agriculture development as stated in the 2003 Maputo declaration and increase the allocation of resources to the development of irrigation systems," they said.
They called on the 25th session of FAO Regional Conference for Africa to consider a clear mechanism for monitoring that guarantees women, youth and marginalized groups to have access, control and ownership of land, water and other natural and productive resources.
"We re-affirm our commitment to farmers and regenerative sustainable farming to ensure self-reliance in the development of agriculture and the achievement of food sovereignty," the activists said in a joint statement. "We reiterate that women must be at the center of an inclusive, appropriate and participatory agrarian reform and rural development."
The organizations said the solution to the food crisis lies in the lack of implementation of the of International Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development Declaration agreed on in March 2006 and called for gender desegregated data at all levels to inform planning and measure progress of its implementation.
The African activists emphasized that trade must serve the development of agriculture and livelihood of the poor people rather than the interest of the multinational corporations.
They insisted that governments must prioritize inter and intra Africa trade especially in agriculture rather than negotiating unfair bilateral trade agreements such as the Economic Partnerships Agreements.
"African governments should fully implement the UN voluntary Guidelines on the Right to Adequate Food and the FAO should take practical measures to ensure compliance," they said.
The activists called on the FAO and African governments to commit to promoting sustainable agricultural development that aims to achieve food sovereignty with emphasis on the right holders, that is women, men and youth, small-scale farmers, fisher folks, pastoralists, agricultural workers, landless and off farm rural communities.
"Agricultural practices must seek to strengthen social structures and farmers identity as political, social and economic actors as well as to support agro-ecological agriculture," they said.
The high-level 25th Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Africa Regional Conference starts on Thursday to discuss food security as the continent is facing food crisis sparked by a global surge in energy and commodity prices.
The meeting which will be officially opened by Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki on Thursday and addressed by the FAO Director General Jacques Diouf, is discussing ways of boosting agriculture and food security, such as by improving water management.
Source:Xinhua
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