Speaking at a press conference shortly before leaving the South African city of Cape Town, where he had attended the World Economic Forum for Africa, Guebuza said work is being undertaken to systematise this initiative so that all involved will have a clearer idea about what is intended.
Earlier in the day, Guebuza had spoken at a forum session on the Green Revolution in Africa, pointing to some of the constraints facing Mozambican agriculture. These included lack of marketing systems, poor access roads, and lack of bank credit for farmers.
Furthermore, much of the country was semi-arid, and irrigation was underdeveloped.
Mozambique was also short of qualified staff - but here Guebuza could report his government's attempts in recent years to revive technical and professional education, including the expansion of agricultural schools.
On Thursday it was also announced that the former United Nations Secretary General, Kofi Annan, will be the first President of an Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa, am initiative which the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and the Rockefeller Foundation, are sponsoring with an initial fund of 150 million US dollars, intended to improve the productive capacity of smallholder agriculture.
Speaking at the Forum debate, Annan challenged African countries to embrace the initiative so that it can achieve its goals of boosting agricultural production, and rescuing millions of people from poverty and hunger.
Annan pointed out that Africa is the only region in the woirld where food security has been deteriorating. Most of the continent's farmers, he said, have no access to improved seeds, fertilisers, irrigation equipment, bank credit or markets.
To reverse this situatuion, said Annan, would require a greater commitment by Africans themselves in search of solution, and partnerships involving associations of farmers themselves, as well as other sections of civil society.
SOURCE: AIM
