Interactive Dialogue of the Executive Secretaries with ECOSOC

1. Interactive Dialogue of the Executive Secretaries with ECOSOC Food Security, Sustainable Development and the MDGs in Africa New York, 7 July 2008 Abdoulie Janneh Under-Secretary-General, and Executive Secretary Economic Commission for Africa

2. 1 Structure of Presentation • Presentation is organized as follows: • Introduction - The state of agriculture in Africa • Current State of food insecurity in Africa • Factors driving the food insecurity problem • Policy options for remedial action • Food security as a regional public good - Regional integration as an essential tool for addressing the food insecurity problem and promoting sustainable development • The role of ECA in advancing the food security and sustainable development agenda in Africa

3. 2 State of Agriculture in Africa • Agriculture remains the backbone of practically all the economies of Africa; how it is managed is critical for food security and sustainable development in the region; • Here are some facts: • about 60% of Africa’s poor live in rural areas; • Livelihoods of 90% of rural populations depend on food production; • 60% of total labour force are employed in agriculture; • Urban poor spend about 60% of household budget on food (against 25-30% in developed countries); • But, agriculture’s contribution to Africa’s GDP has remained at 25-30% as investments and research have dropped. 70

4. 3 Current state of food security in Africa • Currently, undernourishment affects about a third of the continent’s population; • But there are sub-regional variations - North Africa has very low proportion of the population suffering chronic hunger; situation is very serious in varying degrees in the other four regions of the continent – West Africa, Central Africa, East Africa and Southern Africa; • Africa receives about $20 billion in food aid annually. There are14 WFP Protracted Relief and Recovery Operations (PRRO) in West Africa; 13 in eastern Africa and 12 in southern Africa; • Continent spends about $25 billion annually on food imports; • Food insecurity is now exacerbated by global food price inflation, climate change, growing urbanization, and conflict; • Implication – continent may not reach MDG1 on nutrition by the target date.

5. 4 Factors driving food insecurity I • Under capitalization of agriculture • Only 6% of land is under irrigation against 40% in Asia • Low use of fertilizer. For example, 8kg/hectare of fertilizer use in SSA, representing only 9% of world average; • 500 million hectares are moderately or severely degrade • 40% of Africans live on fragile land • Low agricultural productivity and poor performance • Land productivity is half that of Asia and Latin America • Labour productivity is 60% that of Asia and Latin America • Cereal yields are 40% of world averages

6. 5 Factors driving food insecurity II • Urbanization and population growth • Still high rate of population growth – region’s population has doubled from 335 to 751 million between 1975 and 2005 • Urban population growing at an annual rate of 5% fuelled by poverty-induced rural-urban migration; • Changing consumer preferences particularly in urban areas putting additional pressure on food supply system. • Climate change • African agriculture critically dependent on rain. • But climate change is resulting in falling precipitation and increased climate variability; • Climate change gives rise to vector and water-borne diseases exacerbating health status • Increased rate of desertification; • Result? Increasing land stress and unsustainable development.

7. 6 Factors driving food insecurity III – global food price rise • Global food prices rise caused by: • Reduction of production and stocks from major exporting countries due to bad weather; • Rapid increase in oil prices and inputs into agriculture; • Increased demand for biofuels; • Increased demand by strong growth in China and India, and indeed Africa; • Export prohibitions in traditional food exporting countries.

8. 7 Policy option I - Sustainable agriculture • Pursue an integrated approach to sustainable agriculture based on the nexus between environment, economic and institutions; • Vigorously implement the NEPAD Comprehensive African Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) with focus on technology, infrastructure, institutions and policy (TIIP); • Implement the Outcome of the Abuja Fertilizer Summit and increase agricultural productivity through application of knowledge and technology; • Institutional reforms particularly security of tenure of land to empower the rural poor; • Integrate climate change concerns in agricultural production and investment policies.

9. 8 Policy option II Energy and Infrastructure • Design and implement priority energy access scale-up mechanisms; • Modernize and increase overall national energy capacity to provide affordable energy; • Integrate energy in poverty reduction strategies and programmes linking energy, agriculture and food security; • Invest in rural feeder roads to enhance markets formation; • Upgrade infrastructure that permits access to ports, logistical hubs that increase competitiveness; • Develop sustainable uses of water and scale up integrated water resources management.

10. 9 Policy option III - Development Cooperation • World Bank should intensify its efforts to expand its portfolio of lending to agriculture which had decreased from 39% in the 1970s to below 10% in 2000; • ODA flows to agriculture need to be scaled-up with accent on the whole food supply chain; • ODA from non-traditional sources (India, China, etc) should give priority to food security; • EU and USA should deal expeditiously with the agricultural subsidies problem in their region; • Major food exporters with food export restrictions should lift them; • Development cooperation should support R&D in African agriculture; • DOHA round of trade negotiations should be given new life.

11. 10 Policy Option IV - Regional Integration and South-south cooperation • African agricultural system extremely fragmented but reducing food insecurity and promoting sustainable development is a regional public good. Hence regional action is required. • The NEPAD Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) provides a good framework for regional action; • South-south cooperation promoting knowledge sharing and peer-learning on food security and sustainable development – an important under-utilized resource

12. 11 The Role of ECA I • Creation of the Food Security and Sustainable Development Division to assist African countries address the structural challenges to food security and sustainable development • Support to the Regional Economic Communities (RECs), the African Union Commission and its NEPAD/CAADP in articulating investments around the systematic development of value chains of selected strategic food commodities within regional integration-nine such commodities were adopted at the Abuja AU/NEPAD Food Security Summit, 2006; • Collaboration with FAO and UNIDO to assist African countries and RECs to implement through public-private partnerships technology, infrastructure, institution and policy (TIIP) requirements of selected strategic commodities

13. 12 The Role of ECA II • Close collaboration with the African Union and the African Development Bank (AfDB) on the development of a land policy framework to strengthen land rights, enhance productivity, and promote natural resources management; • Setting up of the African Climate Policy Centre in collaboration with TERI, India to assist African countries mainstream climate change concerns in their development policies and frameworks • Collaboration with other partners to advance the food security and sustainable development agenda in Africa in order to achieve the Mugs in the region.

14. 13 Conclusion • Urgent efforts are required to overcome food insecurity in Africa; • The efforts must be consistent with the objectives and goals of sustainable development for long-term solution to the problem; • Development cooperation is important for success; • African leadership and ownership of the efforts is essential and critical for success.

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