BABILOWN~Mawolè: Annan Calls for Faster Green Revolution

24 août 2010

Annan Calls for Faster Green Revolution

Dar Es Salaam — Tanzanian President, Jakaya Kikwete, former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo and African Union Commissioner for Rural Economy and Agriculture, Rhoda Peace Tumusiime, will be among key speakers at the forthcoming African Green Revolution Forum (AGRF) in Accra, Ghana.

African heads of state, industry representatives, the donor community and farmers will meet in Ghana to deliberate at the AGRF scheduled to take place from September 2 to 4.

Delegates to the forum hosted by Ghanaian President, John Atta Mills, are expected to create an action plan on the acceleration of a Green Revolution in Africa.

Chaired by Kofi Annan, former UN Secretary-General and chair of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), this will be the first time the forum will be held in Africa.

It is expected to be one of the continent's major gatherings of public and private players to focus solely on agriculture development.

"We will be looking to governments for leadership to create an environment that will enable agriculture to prosper and grow and we will be looking to the private sector to drive and sustain that growth," says Kofi Annan in a statement sent to East African Business Week (EABW) on last week . "Working together we can achieve a food secure and prosperous Africa."

The AGRF promotes investments and policy initiatives that will drive income growth for African farmers in an environmentally sustainable way.

The AGRF will also show progress in unlocking Africa's agricultural potential and facilitating sustainable economic growth thanks to new investment and public-private partnerships.

"As Secretary General of the United Nations, I called for a uniquely green revolution in Africa to meet the Millennium Development Goal of halving hunger by 2015. And six years later, I am encouraged to see that the Green Revolution has taken hold and is gaining momentum….

Continued