The Kenyan government said on Thursday that the food crisis facing most of the African countries was caused by under-investment in agriculture which is the backbone of the economies in the continent.
Agriculture Minister William Ruto expressed concerns that African governments and donors have not allocated enough funds to agriculture and yet most economies in the region were agro- based.
"It is time to call a spade a spade. Unless we and until we invest and finance agriculture in a continent whose economies are agro-based, we are unlikely to change the current tide of poverty," Ruto told the high-level UN-sponsored conference on food security in Nairobi.
Ruto also said that there was need for the continent to decide in a deliberate and conscious manner to enhance intra-African trade within nations.
The minister noted that African governments' contribution was required particularly with a focus on reducing tariffs and removing non-tariff barriers that discourage the growth of the regional trade.
"The current African population poses huge challenges to the eradication of hunger and its brother, poverty. Urgent and immediate investments in research for high yielding and disease resistant crops as well as heavy investments in fertilizers and infrastructure are required," he said.
Ruto, who is also the chairman of the FAO Regional Conference on Africa, expressed optimism that African countries would overcome the current food crises through exploiting the wealthy resources in the continent.
"Kenya will play its rightful role in achieving what will be arrived at during the current FAO conference. We are concerned about the soaring food prices," the minister said.
Speaking during the meeting, The UN Human Settlements Programme(UN-HABITAT) Director Anna Tibaijuka said the problem of urbanization had exacerbated the food shortage in the continent as the relocation of people to towns was not accompanied with agricultural transformation.
Tibaijuka called on the African governments to address the issue of urbanization which she said poses huge challenges in the cities.
"Where are the hungry? Where are the food rioters? You will find all these people in urban areas. Governments need to develop infrastructure in rural areas for farmers to stay there and continue farming," she said.
The UN-HABITAT chief called upon the governments to invest in agriculture particularly in rural areas to secure sustainable food production to discourage the movement of people from rural to urban centers to avert the possibilities of social upheavals.
"UN-HABITAT research indicates that half of humanities live in towns and by 2030 two thirds of the total population will live in cities. This in the end could result to irreversible and chaotic urbanization," Tibaijuka said.
Source:Xinhua
|
Comment
Tell A Friend
Print Format
Save Article