What is in this article?:
- Among the continents of the world, Africa alone is unable to grow enough to feed itself.
- Many governments and non-governmental organizations pulled back their support of African development in the 1990s.
- That is changing now, and farmers are beginning to make strides in increasing their production and marketing of food, according to Former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan.
Africa currently is the only continent which does not grow enough food to feed itself, said Annan, who grew up in Ghana in Africa who studied and ran track at a small college in Minnesota in the 1960s.
“It alone has failed, in recent decades, to see agricultural productivity keep pace with its growing population. Unfortunately, Africa was bypassed by the science-based agricultural development, built on the ideas of Norman Borlaug, which so dramatically transformed food production in Asia.”
Much of the discussions at the World Food Prize, which was established by Dr. Borlaug to recognize those who are addressing the problem of world hunger, have centered on solving the problems of hunger and malnutrition in Africa.
Annan said the challenges for agriculture in Africa can only be overcome by working in partnership with the continent’s smallholder farmers.