Africa panel demands action on food prices

JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA - Jun 16 2008 13:46

The Africa Progress Panel, chaired by Kofi Annan, on Monday demanded international action to deal with the urgent threat of world food prices, while also calling for G8 leaders to take immediate steps to get their commitments to Africa back on target.

The Africa Progress Panel's report states that the world food crisis "threatens to destroy years, if not decades, of economic progress" as "100-million people are being pushed back into absolute poverty".

"Unless some way can be found to halt and reverse the current trend in food prices there will be a significant increase in hunger, malnutrition, and in infant and child mortality".

The Africa Progress Panel's report also warns that, despite progress on debt relief and significant increases in assistance by individual countries, "the G8's commitment to double assistance to Africa by 2010 is not likely to be fulfilled".

The report identifies a shortfall of $40-billion in aid that needs to be filled if the G8 is to meet the targets set at Gleneagles.

A key recommendation of the Commission for Africa Report, the eleven-member Africa Progress Panel was launched in 2007 as a unique and independent authority on Africa to focus world leaders' attention on delivering their commitments to the continent.

In the report, which assesses the state of the continent in 2008, the panel members highlight six policy areas requiring immediate attention at the forthcoming G8 Summit in Hokkaido, Japan:

The food crisis -- a range of measures must be undertaken to increase the quantity of food on international markets and to provide greater financial assistance to international agencies such as the World Food Programme and to the governments of affected countries.
Aid levels and aid quality -- G8 countries must urgently fund shortfalls against their targets to double assistance to Africa by 2010; these increases must be accompanied by clear timetables and increased transparency in order to improve the quality of aid.
Trade -- countries must immediately review arrangements for stockpiling food, while a comprehensive rethinking of trade policy is needed to boost agricultural production around the world.
Climate change -- the G8 must increase funding for renewable energy and invest in adaptation and the prevention of deforestation.
Infrastructure -- cited by the private sector as its most serious constraint, strategies to connect farmers to markets must be developed in conjunction with efforts to increase access to water and improve sanitation
Good governance -- while there has been significant success in improving governance, the resolution of current crises requires greater and more consistent efforts by the African Union, individual African governments and the international community as a whole.

- Sapa

CONTINUES BELOW

Click here

TOPICS IN THIS ARTICLE

People

Kofi Annan

Organisations

Africa Progress Panel

comment guidelines

Please review our comment guidelines
Post your comment in the block below and press "Post as ..."
Please allow between 15 minutes and 48 hours for your comment to go live
Racist, sexist or stupid comments will be terminated with extreme prejudice

blog comments powered by Disqus

Click here

IN THIS WEEK'S PAPER

SUBSCRIBE:
- Paper edition
- iPad edition (NEW!)
- Kindle edition
- Digital edition

Read stories online

@mailandguardian - Top stories & newsflashes
@NicDawes - M&G editor Nic Dawes
@ChrisRoperZA - Editor, M&G Online
@amabhungane - M&G Centre for Investigative Journ
@mgfeed - Our whole news feed

Africa panel demands action on food prices

Tags

People

Organisations

IN THIS WEEK'S PAPER

Advertisements

Sponsored links