Food insecurity has been exacerbated in Africa by the current rapid rise in food prices together with challenges such as climate change, greater demand for food products in emerging economies, agricultural production used for biofuels, rapid population and urbanization as well as transboundary animal and plant diseases, said FAO Director-General Jacques Diouf today at the 25th FAO Regional Conference for Africa.Agricultural imports have increased more rapidly than exports in the last 30 years, Dr Diouf said, with Africa becoming a net importer of agricultural commodities, 87 percent of which were food products in 2005. The region’s agricultural exports grew by an annual 2.3 percent from 1996, but its exports as a proportion of global trade fell dramatically from 8 percent in the 1970s to only 1.3 percent in 2005.Despite the efforts that have been made, African agriculture still faces many constraints, being undercapitalized, inefficient and uncompetitive, FAO's Director-General said. However, he expressed his conviction that with political will and good governance, Africa can change its agriculture and succeed in feeding its population. Such political will was already expressed in the Maputo Declaration of 2003 by which African Governments had undertaken to allocate at least 10 percent of their budgets to agriculture and rural development. Currently, the African Union’s report on the implementation of that commitment indicates that only one country in five has reached or exceeded the 10 percent level.Dr. Diouf noted that the problem of food insecurity is a political issue - a matter of priorities in the face of the most fundamental of human needs. The decisions made by governments determine the allocation of resources.
source: FAO
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