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Oxfam calls on G8 to increase aid to poor farmers

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-07-02 14:36

WASHINGTON: Leaders from the world's industrialized economies should commit to increasing investment in agriculture in poor countries when they meet in Italy next week, global development group Oxfam said on Tuesday.

In a new report, Oxfam said agricultural assistance by Group of Eight donor countries had fallen sharply, to around $5 billion a year in 2007 from $20 billion in the 1980s.

A farmer works at a rice paddy in Kamport province 146km (93 miles) west of Phnom Penh July 1, 2009. Global development group Oxfam Tuesday called on developed countries to increase their agricultural aid to pour nations in a new report. [Agencies]

The G8, which comprises the United States, Britain, Germany, Italy, France, Russia, Canada and Japan, will meet on July 8-10 to discuss international issues.

"A substantial increase in long-term agriculture investments is loose change compared to ongoing investments in rich countries or the trillions of dollars spent globally this year on the financial bailout," said the report's author, Emily Alpert.

"Strengthening the agricultural sectors of developing countries is a crucial part of the long-term solution to the world's food, financial and climate crises," she added.

A devastating crisis in food prices last year, which led to increased hunger, malnutrition and the risk of social unrest in many poor countries, illustrated why investment in agriculture was necessary to boost global food supplies, Oxfam added.

Years of underinvestment have caused stagnating yields, degraded lands and a scarcity of fresh water in poor countries, it said.

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Investment by donors, national governments and the private sector in poor countries should target women and help improve knowledge about environmentally-sustainable farming methods in the wake of climate changes, the report said.

In Africa, governments spend on average 4.5 percent of their budgets on agriculture, the report said.

While Africa and other poor regions are attracting agridollars from Asia and the Middle East countries worried about their own food security, there is concern among development groups that local populations will be marginalized by deals that do not take their needs into account.

Alpert said agricultural investment must include the poor who live in marginalized areas and it was important that donors and governments filled the gap left by the private sector.

"Despite perceived low returns on investing in marginalized areas by donors and the private sector, investing in developing country agriculture pays for itself by reducing poverty," she said, adding that it also boosted income and local economies.

"A healthy agricultural sector acts as a multiplier in local economies, leading eventually to higher wages and vibrant rural markets where farmers and workers spend their earnings."