Welcome to the monthly newsflash of Idasa's Agriculture Expenditure Project, highlighting useful articles about Agriculture in Africa, including a focus on policy and small farmer participation.

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Farmers ‘shamefully neglected’ in fight against hunger

Governments in Africa spend less than seven per cent of their national budgets on agriculture despite 75 per cent of poor people living in rural areas. ActionAid's report confirms evidence that investment and growth in agriculture can make twice the impact on poverty as growth in other sectors. Donor aid to agriculture has fallen to 4% of all aid to Africa and donors themselves estimate that as little as 10% of all agricultural aid goes to women farmers. Read more here.

Agricultural Innovation for Food Security and Poverty Reduction in the 21st Century: Issues for Africa and the World

Many voices are questioning how the world can feed 9 billion people in 2050. Worldwatch Institute's State of the World 2011 (SOW11) report, seeks to highlight innovations that can address the challenges: innovations that will reduce hunger, improve environment and agriculture, improve the lives of women, and be economically feasible for farmers and the donors/investors. The paper provide an overview of the issues, disputes, and approaches so that contributors to SOW11 can share a common framework. Read more here.

Agribusiness must take the lead in alleviating Africa’s poverty

The Africa’s geographical location and tropical weather, as well as its diversely rich soil content, give it added advantage for massive agricultural activities. However, a majority of Africans engage in one form of farming or the other, albeit at subsistence scale. African Agribusiness and Agro-industries initiative (3ADI), which builds on the CAADP commitment of the African Union seeks to mobilize resources from domestic and international financial systems, for a more comprehensive private sector investment and participation in the agriculture sector. Read more here.

Governance and Small-scale Agriculture in West Africa

Lack of concrete proposals for transforming small-scale agriculture across Africa has undermined efforts to overcome constraints and take advantage of opportunities in the sector. From 8th to 10th November 2010, Idasa’s Economic Governance Programme will host a conference on ‘Governance and Small-scale Agriculture in West Africa’. The aim is to discuss governance and public investment processes and how these are shaping small-scale agriculture in the region.

Make Decentralization Integral to Development

Local government functionaries are important to pursue socio-economic development agenda through effective decentralization. Government of Ghana is focusing on improving the revenue ability of local government authority and pursuing the socio-economic development agenda through effective decentralization. Allocation of resources, transferred from the central administration to the districts, is important to improve the agriculture sector of the country. Read more here.

The 6TH comprehensive Africa agriculture development program (CAADP) partnership platform meeting

Agriculture is the cornerstone of the African economy and it is crucial for African governments to step up their investment in this sector if hunger, food insecurity and poverty are to be eliminated. Delegates at the 6th Partnership Platform Meeting of the CAADP, which took place in Johannesburg, placed strong emphasis on this increased investment. International and global dialogue is currently focused on agricultural performance, food security and climate change. Read more here.

More articles

Green Agriculture Growing in Leaps and Bounds

Putting Poverty and Hunger Solutions to the Test

Africa urged to adopt new poverty model

Study says drought tolerant maize will greatly profit African farmers

Adopt new farming methods, Africa told

Lightweight kit for small farmers in Kenya

Commentary: Putting Agricultural Extension Back on the Development Agenda

Comesa promotes conservation farming      

Female participation in African agricultural research and higher education

Micro-level Practices to Adapt to Climate Change for African Small-scale Farmers: A Review of Selected Literature