According to Rhoda Peace Tumusiime, Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Economy of the African Union (AU) Commission, the AU supports the acquisition of African farmland by foreign investors subject to the appropriate checks and controls being in place: ‘Sixty per cent of Africa’s arable land is not cultivated. In that context, we need foreign investors to develop all these land and modernise our agriculture,’ she told a press conference in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on Monday. ‘It is not direct foreign investors that pose problems. The difficulty in this case results from the weakness of our states to negotiate win-win contracts. We intend to make the necessary support to avoid being cheated when negotiating contracts,’ said Ms Tumusiime. ‘Agriculture is the largest sector in Africa. It can provide opportunities for African youths who are experiencing high rate of unemployment. Foreign investors rushing to acquire our land is not necessarily a bad thing,’ added the Commissioner.
Posted on: Thu, 13 Jun 2013 15:23:23 +0000
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