Everyone talks about risk in African agriculture.
I think we’re looking at the wrong problem.
Markets & Investors can manage risk. Businesses can insure against risk.
What they struggle with is unpredictability.
Unpredictability is what keeps capital away. Not agriculture itself.
@CrisisGroup The world should also commit to developing truly economic, sustainable models through industrialization or commercial activities that benefit humanity, so it would not matter when funding is cut.
Excellent exchange with Ministers of Nordic Countries, steadfast champions of our work.
We discussed Humanitarian Reset, our access initiative for UNGA, and defending principled humanitarian action in Ukraine, Gaza, Yemen, Sudan and beyond.
@FAOstatistics You know how some countries have their company visions that are set for decades? What is that for FAO, and what is happening in the Sahel? How does this project fit into that?
@UN_HRC@UNHumanRights@Dabokunda@UN I think this is the role technology is meant to play today: to work on our basic human needs together with us, addressing issues such as hunger, extreme poverty, and wars. Some of these things just don't make sense to experience with such great technology at our fingertips.
A lot of capital chases production volume in Africa. Nobody asks who will process it. Or who will buy it. Or whether the person eating it can afford it.
Every crisis in African food security in the last twenty years was foreseeable. Most were foreseen. Then we chose to fund the response instead of the system. We are running that same choice, this month, this year. .
A civilization cannot call itself advanced if its people cannot access safe, nutritious, affordable food. It cannot be truly secure if food prices can destabilize households, cities, and nations.
While many of my contemporaries are building extraordinary technologies to advance humanity into outer space, embed intelligence into devices, transform finance, and accelerate the digital economy, I believe one foundation remains more important than all others: agriculture.
Only when food became available, reliable, and organized did societies gain the time, stability, and mental space to build culture, institutions, science, and technology.
That remains true today.
Poverty is never just a bottom-of-the-pyramid problem.
It always travels upwards.
A large poor population means weak purchasing power.
Weak purchasing power means thin markets.