Kenya urges Africa to boost food security

4 hours ago

NAIROBI (AFP) — Kenya has urged African governments to boost food security in the face of soaring prices at the opening a regional meeting of the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization.

"Until the incident of hunger is brought down and imports reduced by raising the output of farm products which the region can produce with comparative advantage, there is no way high rates of economic growth ... can be attained," said Kenyan Agriculture Minister William Ruto.

"With appropriate technology, credible policies and investments in key areas, the rapidly increasing population can potentially be a big market that can spur rapid economic growth," added Ruto, the chairman of the conference.

Africa is currently reeling from a global food crisis triggered by surging energy and commodity prices.

Boosting agriculture and food security is to top the five-day conference agenda.

"I am confident that the results of the deliberations will provide the organisation and its partners with recommendations and necessary guidance to help boost agricultural development and food security in Africa," FAO Director-General Jacques Diouf said in a statement.

Diouf said small-scale farmers and poor households will be the worst hit as they rely on markets that have been rattled by rising inflationary trends.

Food prices have doubled in three years, according to the World Bank, sparking riots in many African nations and elsewhere.

Brazil, Vietnam, India and Egypt have all imposed food export restrictions.

Ruto faulted both African and western governments for the situation.

"While many countries spend as much as 25 percent of their total budget on military hardware and other unnecessary funding, the all important agricultural sector is yet to reach 10 percent in almost all African countries," he said.

"The developed countries on the other hand find resources to assist African countries with food handouts and purchase of military hardware, but never find cash to tap in the great potential of agricultural products in Africa," Ruto said.

Inflation in Kenya, east Africa's largest economy, hit 31.5 percent in May, the highest in 14 years, owing to erratic rains and disruptions on the supply-chain spurred by recent political violence.

Experts say Africa's spending on cereal imports is expected to rise by more than 50 percent in 2008, with countries like Ivory Coast, Senegal and Nigeria -- among the world's top rice importers -- suffering most because their import source in southeast Asia is reeling from similar problems.

The situation has been worsened by steep fuel prices that have raised transport and utility costs, they say.

Many countries, notably Kenya, have responded by slashing import duties, introducing subsidies and export bans, but experts warn that these knee-jerk reactions may be difficult to undo when food prices ease.

A FAO crisis summit early in June in Rome pledged 6.5 billion dollars (4.1 billion euros) in emergency food relief and vowed to halve global hunger by 2015 by taking "urgent" action over the global food crisis.

A recent FAO report estimated that, to meet rising demand, food production must double by 2030.

Despite record production in 2008, food prices are expected to remain high, impacting on the world's poor and sparking riots in countries reliant on imports, the FAO report said.

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