Africa alone could feed the world
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Africa alone could feed the world
DOOM-MONGERS have got it wrong - there is enough space in the world to
produce the extra food needed to feed a growing population. And
contrary to expectation, most of it can be grown in Africa, say two
international reports published this week.
The first, projecting 10 years into the future from last year's food
crisis, which saw the price of food soar, says that there is plenty of
unused, fertile land available to grow more crops.
"Some 1.6 billion hectares could be added to the current 1.4 billion
hectares of crop land [in the world], and over half of the
additionally available land is found in Africa and Latin America,"
concludes the report, compiled by the Organization for Economic
Cooperation and Development and the UN Food and Agriculture
Organization (FAO).
If further evidence were needed, it comes in a second report, launched
jointly by the FAO and the World Bank. It concludes that 400 million
hectares, straddling 25 African countries, are suitable for farming.
Models for producing new crop land already exist in Thailand, where
land originally deemed agriculturally unpromising, due to irrigation
problems and infertile soil, has been transformed into a cornucopia by
smallholder farmers.
As in Thailand, future success will come by using agriculture to lift
Africa's smallholder farmers out of poverty, aided by strong
government measures to guarantee their rights to land, say both
reports.