The Ottawa Citizen – Aid and Trade

By Jennifer Campbell
The Ottawa Citizen, April 30, 2008
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The current food crisis is a result of a lack of clear investment in the areas of agriculture and food security, says Malex Alebikiya, a leading African development expert who was in Ottawa last week for a symposium on capacity development.

The symposium was put on by CHF (a Canadian non-government organization founded by Mitchell Sharp and formerly known as the Canadian Hunger Foundation) and brought together representatives from Northern and Southern civil society organizations, government and academia.

"The last two years, the Canadian Food Security Policy Group tried to impress on government to make agriculture and food security a very thematic area for development assistance," Mr. Alebikiya said. "Today, the food crisis is a manifestation of a lack of clear investment in that area. Generally, a drought and a flood in one year shouldn't be a crisis. It only materializes when food security isn't in place."

Mr. Alebikiya has always been a proponent of making agriculture a priority in development, something the current crisis proves is necessary.

"You need a comprehensive policy," he said. "It's not just a question of investing in agriculture production, it's also dealing with it from a trade point of view. In Ghana, we import a lot of rice and meat products.

"In a situation of rising food prices, you can imagine what that means. You make the whole country very vulnerable. A policy on agriculture is important but it must be complementary to a policy on trade."