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| NEPAD needs investment to modernise African agriculture
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Dakar, Senegal (PANA) -
Participants at the agriculture
workshop during the just-ended NEPAD conference on private
sector financing have emphasised the importance of modernising
African agriculture in general through adequate investment.
The workshop observed that the sector remains weak and is
affected by the vagaries of weather.
In an interview with PANA, Senegalese agriculture minister Pape
Diouf, rapporteur for the workshop on Agriculture, said "there
were potentials to turn the continent into a pillar of global
agriculture."
"Priority should be given to stopping our dependence on
rainfall, by setting up irrigation facilities for better water
management so that African agriculture may continue throughout
the year," he explained Tuesday.
Participants also stressed the importance of building
infrastructure (roads, airports, railways) to "enable African
agriculture to access outlets," Diouf said, insisting on the
need for "modern conservation methods for quality production."
"We need investment to finance agriculture and producers," he
observed, and expressed the need for "farmers' organisations,
which complement government's efforts, to receive means to
overcome adverse climatic conditions like poor rainfall that
are identified as "limitations to African agriculture."
The workshop also identified trade among African nations as
" an indispensable complementary element instead of competition."
Citing the examples of Cote d'Ivoire, which is a leading
producer of cocoa, while Senegal grows groundnuts and Burkina
Faso and Mali cultivate cotton, Diouf said "some countries
should focus on specific products to avoid surpluses before
entering foreign markets."
"Our agriculture also needs to be subsidised, or we will demand
from other countries that they end subsidies to ensure more
fairness in international trade," he said.
"If American and European agricultural produce is subsidised to
come and compete with our non-subsidised African agricultural
produce, we are doomed to lose the fight," Diouf pointed out.
"To access foreign markets, we have decided to intensify our
agriculture by raising production, yield and quality to make
African agriculture more competitive," he explained.
The workshop recommended that efforts be exerted towards making
non-productive African soils productive and providing modern
implements and equipment to rural communities thus enabling
farmers to become productive.
Diouf cited the example of the agricultural policy of the West
African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA) that seeks to boost
trade among Africans, and encourages various types of
investment for agriculture in Africa.
Moreover, he emphasised the need to promulgate adequate
legislation, as well as harmonise regulatory policies and
enhance access to credit and capacity building for agricultural
personnel in the continent's quest to modernise the sector.
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| Dakar - 17/04/2002 |
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