At ICAE 2024, India and Africa Compare Notes on Food Security
From 2 to 7 August 2024, India hosted the 32nd International Conference on Agricultural Economists (#ICAE2024) in New Delhi. The 32 edition of the ICAE delved into theme of ‘Transformation Towards Sustainable Agri-Food Systems’ with India scheduling a special session dealing with partnership with Africa. Indian PM Narendra Modi was the chief guest and Indian Agriculture Minister Shivraj Chouhan was the guest of honor.
It is worth noting that the last time India hosted the ICAE was in 1958, and the event to place in Mysore with PM as chief guest. The story goes that the concept for the ICAE was hatched following a conversation between Rabindranath Tagore and Lord L.K. Elmhirst, a British agronomist, in 1921. Today, the ICAE has evolved into one of the biggest and most influential conclaves of agriculture around the world.
Faced with #ClimateChange and geopolitical conflicts, #FoodSecurity has emerged one of the major concerns for many countries. In that context, India is recognized for its success in implementing the Green Revolution and Milk Revolution to provide good nutrition and to alleviate poverty within its population.
For this edition, a platform was set up to facilitate exchanges between India and Africa too tackle #FoodSecurity in a cooperative manner. Together, the people in Asia and Africa add up to nearly half of the world population, with more than 3 billion mouths to feed. Africa is also the place with the largest area of arable land, which if developed sustainably can feed the whole world.
A special session was programmed whereby 20 Indian states and 15 African countries compared notes on the agricultural sector. Firstly, high debt service ratios lead to lower government budgets for agriculture. Therefore, it was no surprise to note that African countries tend to have less funding for agriculture than Indian states.
As part of the action, it is recommended to reform agricultural subsidy policy and to reallocate more resources to bring in modern agricultural techniques and practices.
According to the FAO, the world would require another USD 21 billion in investment in agriculture annually in order to end global hunger by 2040.
Adhering to a coherent line of thought, the agricultural economists advocated for part of the climate funds for mitigation and adaptation to be directed toward enhancing crop output and developing resilient agriculture.