The World Bank, the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and a group of African ministers have met in the Ghanaian capital of Accra to evolve strategies that would improve agriculture on the continent.
According to Channels TV report on Friday, Gary Howe, IFAD director on Strategic Planning said on the sideline of the ongoing Accra High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness that the meeting was to find solutions to the continent's food crisis.
"For Africa, agriculture is vital not only to their economy but the survival of the people," he said.
Howe said the meeting would also work out a new formula on how to increase resources coming to Africa as aid to support agriculture. He added that with adequate funding, agriculture would facilitate the eradication of poverty and enhance social stability on the continent.
"In meeting global demands and needs on education and health, the international communities are on course. But less attention is paid to agriculture," he said.
The director said it was very important for developed nations to collaborate with developing countries on agriculture as a way of addressing the global food crisis. Issues expected to receive attention at the meeting include the problem of technical experts that would deploy new and emerging technologies capable of enhancing high productivity in the agriculture sector.
Other issues, according to Howe, are the review of international policies and regulations that inhibit sustainable agricultural development and practice.
He said the IFAD was expending over 50 percent of its total budget on promoting agricultural development in Africa.
The Accra conference, he said, would be deemed to have failed if delegates were unable to come up with an ambitious policy within the Paris declaration that put agriculture on the front burner.
"No matter how good talks at the conference are, the aim of gathering here is lost if food security fails to get a better deal," he added.
Source:Xinhua
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