Washington, DC, April 26, 2016 \u2013 Tony Elumelu, Chairman of Heirs Holdings,<\/p>\n
the United Bank for Africa and Founder of The Tony Elumelu Foundation has
\ncalled on African governments and donors to treat the agricultural sector
\nin Africa as a commercially viable sector with a potential to create
\nmillions of jobs and dollars in revenue.<\/p>\n
The African Business leader and Philanthropist, who stated this while
\ndelivering the keynote address to agribusiness investors and stakeholders
\nat The Global Food Security Symposium in Washington, DC, said agriculture
\nshould not be seen as a social welfare program, rather African farmers
\nshould be treated as entrepreneurs as governments create the enabling
\nenvironment for MSMEs to access finance.<\/p>\n
Organised by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs on April 26th 2016, the
\nevent, which gathered a host of multi-disciplinary stakeholders in
\nagriculture and food business, including Elumelu – a member of The Aspen
\nInstitute Global Food Security Strategy Group – presented a platform to
\ndiscuss transformations in the global food system necessary to feed
\ngrowing cities.<\/p>\n
Speaking from an African standpoint, Elumelu advocated for public and
\nprivate sector collaboration, recommending the adoption of an
\nAfricapitalist approach to achieve the transformation and growth needed to
\nmeet the increasing demand for safe and sustainable food. Africapitalism
\npromotes the private sector\u2019s commitment to Africa\u2019s development through
\nlong-term investment in strategic sectors of the economy that create
\neconomic prosperity and social wealth.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf the public and private sector work together in shared purpose, we will
\nbe able to retain the desired knowledge and manpower in rural areas in
\norder to support agriculture. We will also be able to control the rate of
\nurbanisation, because we would have made it possible for our young people
\nto earn a good living and grow their businesses right where they were born
\nand raised as agro-allied entrepreneurs,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
On the private sector responsibilities, he advocated for large investments
\nthat promote mechanized farming and processing as well as capital to
\npartner with the government to provide key infrastructure supportive of
\nsustained growth in the agriculture sector. \u201cI believe that if we
\ntransform the agriculture sector, we will transform the African
\ncontinent!\u201d said Elumelu.<\/p>\n
He concluded by appealing to the U.S. government for a decisive
\ncongressional action to reform emergency food assistance by providing
\nUSAID with the flexibility to ship or purchase food regionally to avoid
\ndistorting local markets, further impoverishing local small holder farmers
\nin Africa. According to him, flexibility is the right way to approach
\nfood aid that will save more lives. \u201cFood aid must not become an industry.
\nAs an African, I want to appeal to the U.S. Congress and the next
\npresident of the United States to make the correct and courageous decision
\nin the next re-authorisation of the farm bill to fight famine with
\nflexibility.\u201d<\/p>\n
Statistics reveal that an estimated 6.3billion people will live in urban
\ncities by 2050 putting a strain on the supply of safe and sustainable food
\nto feed the population. With multiple challenges facing small scale
\nfarmers and easy access to markets still an uphill task, the symposium was
\nan avenue for stakeholders to discuss and recommend specific actions on
\nhow to tackle problems of global food security. The Council also released
\na major report on action points for the US government to advance food
\nsecurity in an urban world.<\/p>\n
Delivering his speech, co-chair of the Global Food and Agriculture
\nProgram, Dan Glickman, stated that action and innovation by the private
\nsector are important to feed cities. \u201cFeeding the world\u2019s cities is an
\nenormous challenge but also an enormous opportunity\u201d.<\/p>\n
Other international speakers present at the event were Doug Bereuter,
\nCo-chair, Global Food and Agriculture Program; Member, U.S. Senate,
\nHonourable Jack Reed; and Rajiv Shah, senior advisor to The Chicago
\nCouncil on Global Affairs and a distinguished service professor at
\nGeorgetown University\u2019s School of Foreign Service, among others.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Washington, DC, April 26, 2016 \u2013 Tony Elumelu, Chairman of Heirs Holdings, the United Bank for Africa and Founder of The Tony Elumelu Foundation has called on African governments and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":46151,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-48809","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n