Help Africa to feed itself, Annan urges world

By Pascal Fletcher

DAKAR (Reuters) - Farmers in Africa could double food output in five to 10 years if rich countries partner them in a "Green Revolution" for a long-term solution to the continent's food crisis, former U.N. chief Kofi Annan said on Friday.

Speaking in a telephone conference call from Austria, the former U.N. secretary-general urged developed nations to give generously to first stave off the risk of hunger in Africa caused by soaring global food prices. They should then commit to help African farmers attain long-term food security, he said.

Annan, who led a meeting of agriculture experts in Salzburg, said major funding in the short, medium and long term was required to offset the impact on the world's poorest continent of the sharp price hikes for essential food and fuel. These have triggered riots and protests in a string of African countries.

"No question is more important for the future of our continent ... the most urgent act is to get food to the people who desperately need it now," said Annan, who is from Ghana.

But he added humanitarian aid could only be the first step of a longer-term strategy which should seek "to enable African farmers to dramatically increase their output so that Africa can feed itself and not be dependent on food aid".

Annan, who ended his tenure as U.N. chief in 2006, welcomed a proposal made on Thursday by U.S. President George W. Bush for $770 million in new U.S. food aid donations and other measures to tackle the global food crisis.

"I very much hope that governments here in Europe will follow suit," he said.

Annan made his appeal as chairman of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), an organisation which seeks a sustained partnership between donors, governments, NGOs and farmers in Africa to make the continent self-sufficient in food.