'Africa must fight inequality' — Kofi Annan

At the World Economic Forum for Africa, yesterday, former United Nations Secretary-General, Mr Kofi Annan said that African governments should work harder to reduce inequality that has prevented the benefits of a decade of economic growth from being spread equitably.
According to a report by Annan, the plunder by foreign investors and corrupt officials of the continent’s fishing and timber resources is a clear example of the failure to harness natural resources for the common good.

“After more than a decade of growth, there is plenty to celebrate,” Annan said during the report’s launch at the World Economic Forum for Africa, in Abuja. But it is time to ask why so much growth has done so little to lift people out of poverty and why so much of Africa’s resource wealth is squandered through corrupt practices and unscrupulous investment activities,” Annan said.

African leaders also reaffirmed their commitment to transforming the agricultural sector across the continent at the 2014 Grow Africa Investment Forum Building on recent successes of the Grow Africa partnership – a joint initiative of the African Union Commission, the NEPAD Agency and the World Economic Forum – the leaders agreed that increased private sector investment in agriculture is key to delivering economic opportunities and food security within their countries.

“There are huge opportunities in agriculture. This will create jobs and achieve food security,” said President Jonathan.
“The key is not just producing enough food for local consumption, but also creating jobs along the value chain,” he added.
“For years, Africa’s agriculture was marked by low productivity, low production,” noted M. Kikwete, President of Tanzania.

Thanks to an agriculture transformation based on a blueprint started at the World Economic Forum on Africa in 2010 in Dar es Salaam, he said his country is seeing dividends. As a result, “hunger can be overcome, and increased income reduces poverty.”
In 2013, Grow Africa partners doubled their commitments to agriculture and food security to $7.2 billion. Of this, $970 million is already invested, which has led to the creation of 33,000 new jobs and assistance to 2.6 million smallholder farmers throughout the continent.