India-Africa partnership in global food security

The partnership between India and Africa is rapidly evolving. India and Africa have tie-up as key partners for the global food security with the change of global landscape for agriculture and food.

According to India Inc, India's experience benefits Africa's agriculture as Africa's farm sector estimated to grow to $1 trillion by 2030.

A Didar Singh, the secretary general of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) said that India needs a renovation and look for consumers whereas the African continent offers one of the most unexploited markets, in a forward to a global accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) report on agricultural partnership between India and the 54-nation.

According to the PwC report, Africa "represents the 'last edge in global food and agricultural markets".

"The continent houses almost 60 percent of the world's uncultivated land and an abundance of natural resources."

Due to the financial problem, Nigeria, which is called as the largest African economy, was rotating to China for the commercial agriculture.

Sub-Saharan area is said to have the large percentage of uncultivated fertile land and presence of water and sub-Saharan Africa alone requires $50 billion annual investments to make the agricultural system work better.

Ajay Kakra, the head of PwC India agriculture and natural resources said Africa's gross domestic product (GDP) has 11 of the world's fastest growing economies and estimated to reach $2.6 trillion by 2020.

"At present, India and Africa together have manpower of almost $2.2 billion and a combined GDP estimate of more than $3 trillion," Kakra said.

"The agricultural sector in Africa has great potential to contribute to this growth, with the continent having almost 60 percent of uncultivated land in the world and currently producing only 10 percent of the global output," he added.

The continent hopes to increase $280 billion agricultural output in 2010 to $880 billion in 2030.

"This increase will be enabled by bringing potentially cultivable land into cultivation, increasing yields and shifting to the cultivation of high-value and high-yielding crops," Kakra said.

"Over the last decade, countries that have increased investments in agriculture as per the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) targets have seen reductions in hunger and poverty, and increases in productivity," it said.

"Ghana, Togo, Zambia, Burundi, Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, Congo, Senegal, Ethiopia and Malawi are some examples," it added.

The PwC report recommended ''public-private'' partnerships as a chain key to take Africa's agriculture to the next level and government support to the private sector should not be underestimated.(IANS)