africa: A ‘PATHWAY OUT OF POVERTY’

News Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 25 JUNE 2003
INVESTMENT IN AFRICA’S SMALLHOLDER FARMERS COULD OFFER A ‘PATHWAY OUT OF POVERTY’ FOR AN IMPOVERISHED CONTINENT
The failure of years of emergency food aid to solve Africa’s problems has prompted the specialist development NGO FARM-Africa to propose an urgent and fundamental change of policy by donor Governments and organisations to get the beleaguered continent back on its feet.
According to FARM-Africa, it is the millions of smallholder farmers of sub-Saharan Africa who hold the key to reversing the downward spiral of poverty and starvation now gripping large parts of the continent.
“Smallholder farmers have the potential to increase the food security and economic growth of the 75% of the African population that lives in rural areas – but they are being ignored in favour of emergency spending and macro-economic policies that fail to filter down to individual level,” Dr Christie Peacock, Chief Executive, said at FARM-Africa’s AGM in London today (Wednesday 25th June).
She pointed out that around 40 million people are currently receiving food aid, yet funding for the potential solution to the problem – small scale agriculture and forestry – has been cut from 17% of total spend to only 6% over the last 20 years.
“The crucial role agriculture plays in supporting rural people has been ignored for far too long. FARM-Africa has proved that agricultural improvements introduced at ground level with the involvement of local people can be the engine of economic growth for the whole community – offering nothing less than a pathway out of poverty,” Dr Peacock said.
An example was the award winning dairy goat improvement scheme set up by FARM-Africa in the Meru district of Kenya, which achieved a six-fold increase in milk yields by cross breeding local goats with a nucleus of pure-bred animals from the UK. The improvement scheme is now run by the local community and has been so successful that similar schemes have been started in Tanzania and Uganda.
“FARM-Africa is therefore calling on major donors to re-direct a significant proportion of their development budgets into practical schemes to help smallholder farmers increase their home-grown food production - with the long term objective of achieving greater self sufficiency and less reliance on hand-outs of aid,” Dr Peacock said.
And she suggested that the areas requiring significant and sustained investment to revitalise the smallholder sector include:
· Improvement of frontline services delivering inputs, micro-finance and expertise.
· Development of rural infrastructure to improve input supply and market opportunities.
· Increasing the voice and power of the rural poor through greater participation in planning and use of own resources.
· Provision of incentives for agricultural innovation.
“How many millions of Africans must die before there is the political will to make this happen?” she asked.
- ENDS-
For further information contact: Dr Christie Peacock (christiep@farmafrica.org.uk) or Laura Greenwood (laurag@farmafrica.org.uk); Tel: + 44 (0)20 7430 0440
NOTES FOR EDITORS:
During the 1990s development assistance to African agriculture dropped from $4 billion to $2.6b
The US and UK Governments spend about 2% of their African bilateral budget on agriculture and 20-25% on emergency support.
The UK’s Department for International Development spent £12.8 million in 2001/2 on the support of African agriculture while spending £48m on food aid to Ethiopia alone in 2002/3.
The incidence of poverty in SSA is nearly 50%.