AGRICULTURE

Each G8 communiqué from 2005 to 2008 made reference to the importance of support for agriculture, but lacked commitment to a specific set of actions to achieve increased agricultural productivity. Rising food prices pushed the issue of agriculture to the forefront of debate prior to the 2008 Hokkaido Summit. There, the G8 reiterated commitments totalling $10 billion that individual countries had made since January 2008 to address the food crisis by providing ‘…food aid, nutrition interventions, social protection activities and measures to increase agricultural output in affected countries’.

• Although the G8 also stated support for longer-term strategies to revive Africa’s agricultural sector (including to reverse the decline in funding for the sector), the commitment was not paired with a specific and ambitious commitment of financial support.
• The G8 did reverse the decline in ODA for agriculture, but ODA to this sector remains small compared with other sectors and grossly insufficient to contribute significantly to long-term improvements in agricultural output.
• The G8 must now offer better financing and a more coherent policy framework to support investments in agricultural development, including support for the Comprehensive African Agricultural Development Plan (CAADP), the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), and the Rome-based food and agriculture organizations.