Introduction
General Context
After an extended period of declining
investments in agriculture by international
cooperation, recent trends point at the need to
increase them dramatically over the next years.
Most development agencies point out that rural
poverty and malnutrition is most efficiently
reduced by helping rural people doing better what
they already do well, which is producing raw and
transformed food for markets and home consumption.
Jeffrey Sachs, the principal author of the report
“Halving hunger: it can be done” commissioned by
the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, indicated
that developing countries must keep large numbers
of people working in agriculture since much of the
future economic growth will follow the model of
jobless growth. Many people will be without jobs
unless they remain in agriculture. There they find
dignifying occupation and can contribute to food
security and minimal income.
Africa is of particular concern because of the
triple challenge faced by this continent: To
overcome its political problems, its health crisis
and to overcome the dramatic effects of climate
change. Africa must increase its food production
to reduce dependence from international markets.
Although food prices are at an all time low,
indications are that they will rather increase in
the future, severely affecting balances of payment
of emerging economies with large needs for capital
investments. The growing number of urban poor in
Africa will be worst hit by such a development
since they spend up to 80% of their income on
food. Agricultural producers could help out but
they need basic services and agricultural and
marketing support in rural areas to become
efficient food providers and cover largely their
own food requirements.
Subject of the Symposium
How can one propose sustainable intensification
of agriculture knowing that farming families spend
most of their cash on health and hardly have the
energy to maintain even their current low
productivity systems? What kind of answers do
Africa’s decision makers suggest? Organisations
like the World Bank and the International Fund for
Agricultural Development IFAD are among the most
important investors in agriculture in Africa. What
is their strategy to support Africa to meet its
challenges? These are the questions which will be
discussed at the Symposium. It is held in the
context of the celebration of the World Food Day
2006 for which the Food and Agriculture
Organization (FAO) has set the theme “Investing in
Agriculture for Food Security”.
Objectives of the Symposium
The objective is to provide insights into the
debate about African food security and
sovereignty, the role of international development
and the relation with developed country
agricultural policies.
Target Audience
The target public are Swiss and international
development and humanitarian aid professionals.
The Symposium is open to other interested persons.
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