THE AFRICAN FOOD BASKET I have chosen to introduce to you “The African Food Basket: Innovations, Interventions and Strategic Partnerships”. This is a mega investment project that will involve all African countries and will envisage the purchase of tractors, agricultural implements, irrigation equipment, fertilizers and manures, improved seeds, cement for dam construction, water pumps, pipes and trucks for transportation. When implemented, this will create thousands of jobs and self employment business ventures at various levels. I will start by stating that upon assumption of the African Union Chairmanship during the 14th Ordinary Summit of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the African Union, held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in early February this year, I proposed, and the African leaders unanimously agreed that within a period of five years, Africa must be able to feed itself, and that no child in Africa should die of hunger, starvation, or malnutrition. I persuaded African governments to place the highest priority on agriculture and food security as the basis for economic transformation and change. They agreed that the continent of Africa should be turned into an “African Food Basket” through specific innovations, interventions, and strategic partnerships. They also agreed that Africa should be able to supply food to the rest of the world. THE RATIONALE I am convinced that if African governments could invest enough budgetary resources and investment in agriculture, the continent could produce enough food for all. Therefore, the consensus was that in the next two to three decades, sustainable growth and development in African countries will be determined by what happens in the agriculture sector... - Late Bingu wa Mutharika, as President of Malawi and Chairperson of the African Union, presented his plans for food security in Africa to the world with a lecture and videoconference at Boston University’s African Presidential Archives and Research Center (APARC) on October 1, 2010. Late President Mutharika’s address coincided with his formal unveiling of his five-year food security plan for Africa. Source: Boston University African Presidential Archives and Research Center Newsletter (Fall 2010) #Luntha #Progressive #Inspirational #Zilipati
Posted on: Fri, 07 Mar 2014 12:49:13 +0000