Kenya says food trade barriers must be scrapped

A woman sells vegetables near shops and houses burnt during post-election violence in Nairobi's Kibera slum January 10, 2008.

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Africans must unite to demand an immediate end to Western trade barriers that are worsening the impact of a global food crisis on the world's poorest continent, Kenya said on Thursday.

Experts say poor harvests, high fuel costs and rising demand, especially from fast-growing Asian countries, mean one billion people worldwide are now threatened by hunger.

Kenyan Agriculture Minister William Ruto said he would mobilize African governments to bring down barriers "imposed by our big brothers in the developed nations to deny us their markets while they enjoy unfettered access" to Africa.

"We intend to pitch tent at the African Union summit, and at the G8," he told delegates at a regional meeting of the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) in Nairobi.

Commodity prices have doubled over the last couple of years and the World Bank says that 100 million people risk joining the 850 million already going hungry. The FAO says food output must double by 2050 to meet surging demand.

Ruto said African countries desperately needed to reduce dependence on food imports, and to expand irrigation schemes that reach far fewer farmers than anywhere else in the world.

But he said factors often cited in the crisis, like climate change and a debate over biofuels, were just "excuses" given the years of neglect shown to farming on the continent.

"The real bottom line is that for the last 30 years, national governments, development partners, Bretton Woods institutions and the private sector have under-invested in agriculture," Ruto said.

"That is the basic truth. It's time to call a spade a spade."

On Monday, a U.N. expert said Africa could triple or quadruple domestic crop production over just two seasons through simple changes to farming practices.

The FAO Regional Conference for Africa, which is held every two years, followed a major summit in Rome earlier this month that pledged to cut trade barriers and help poor farmers fight hunger. But anti-poverty campaigners warned that this was not enough to cap high world food prices.

Addressing the meeting in Nairobi, Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki said regional trade blocs like the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) could be merged as ties deepened to give the continent more clout at trade talks.

"This will not only contribute to greater trade volumes between African countries, but it will also give Africa an edge in world trade," Kibaki said.

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