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27/09/2006 - Farming productivity in Sub-Saharan Africa is stagnating. There is now on average less food available per person than there was in the early 1990s. In stark contrast, productivity across developing nations in other regions has improved markedly. Food availability per person has risen by more than 30% in Asia and by 20% in Latin America since 1990.
How to help African farmers increase productivity and reduce rural poverty will be at the centre of discussions between international agricultural policy experts and government officials meeting at Saly in Senegal from 3 – 4 October 2006. The event - Fostering country-owned policy strategies for agriculture and rural development - is open to the media and will close with a news conference.
Organised by the OECD in collaboration with the Platform on Rural Development and Food Security for West and Central Africa (HUB) and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the meeting will aim to help African governments improve their agricultural policies, through all stages, from design and development to implementation.
OECD work has shown that increasing agricultural productivity in developing countries has a wider impact than just raising farmers’ incomes. Agricultural growth also reduces poverty by lowering and stabilising food prices; it improves employment for the poor in rural areas, increases demand for consumer goods and services and stimulates activity in the non-farm sector.
African participants will include ministers and senior officials from Senegal, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Ghana, Ivory Coast and Mali. The meeting will take place at the Palm Beach Hotel, Saly. It will be opened Senegal’s Agriculture Minister, Farba Senghor, and OECD Deputy General Secretary Kiyo Akasaka.
For further information, or to register for media accreditation for the meeting, journalists are invited to contact Ibrahim Assane Mayaki or the OECD Media Division (tel: + 33 1 45 24 97 00).
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