Rome, Italy
June 12, 2009
The G8 Development Ministers
meeting in Rome convened an outreach session during which
representatives of African countries and UN agencies, along with
Bioversity
International, discussed the problems of development against
a background of the current financial crisis.
Top of the list of concrete suggestions that Bioversity
International offered to the G8 was investment in agriculture.
"In these times of economic crisis everyone is looking for value
for money, and research into agriculture offers a better return
on investment than other forms of aid," said Emile Frison,
Director General of Bioversity International. "We need to invest
in different solutions to deliver food security," he added.
Frison supported the very strong call from Stefano Manservisi,
Director General for Development of the European Commission, to
put agriculture at the centre of development. In May the EC,
with the World Bank and the African Development Bank, pledged to
increase spending on development.
Several speakers offered additional support. Jacques Diouf,
Director General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the
United Nations, urged donors to invest more in agriculture. And
Kanayo Nwanze, President of the International Fund for
Agricultural Development, the UN’s rural poverty agency,
stressed the importance of directing aid at Africa’s small
farmers and support to the Consultative Group on International
Agricultural Research, which supports Bioversity International
and other centres seeking to improve agriculture in the
developing world.
The final statement of the meeting, which will go forward to the
full G8 in July, did recognise the importance of agriculture. It
calls for "coherent and science-based policies aimed at
fostering inclusive and environmentally sound agricultural
growth managed through an enhanced cooperation at the
international, regional and local levels".
"This is very good news," said Frison. "Those of us who work on
the ground know what is needed," Frison said, "and this support
from donors and our partners is most welcome."
Bioversity International told the meeting of several studies
that showed the value of investment in agriculture. "Growth in
agricultural productivity directly and indirectly contributed
83% of growth in GDP in a sample of 62 developing countries,"
Frison pointed out. Doubling investment over the next five years
from its current level of US$5 billion a year would massively
increase production and lift 282 million people in Africa out of
abject poverty.
Support to agriculture has plunged from 17% of total aid
spending in 1980 to less than 3% in 2006.
Frison further pointed out that there was no single solution to
improving food security. "Food security requires many different
approaches," he said. "In addition to larger harvests we need to
use all the resources at our disposal to help farmers adapt
their agriculture to the stresses of climate change and we need
to make full use of agricultural biodiversity to deliver better
nutrition and health."
Bioversity International, with its Headquarters in Rome,
Italy, has worked for more than 35 years to support the improved
use and conservation of agricultural diversity. Through
international research, in collaboration with partners
throughout the world, Bioversity strives to build the knowledge
base needed to ensure effective use of diversity to increase
sustainable agricultural production, improve livelihoods and
meet the challenge of climate change. |
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