Africa Needs to Reduce Agricultural Barriers, Says Report

Four specific policy changes can greatly improve the lives of Africa's rural poor says Daniel Sacks and Jasson Urbach in Fixing Famine, a report published by the International Policy Network, London. To reduce agricultural barriers, the authors note, African governments must :

• Allow the use of GM seeds which can greatly increase crop yields;
• Remove the restriction s on trade that drive up the prices of even the simplest technology;
• Allow ordinary smallholders greatest access to credit  to develop their land; and
• Acknowledge that bad roads are a major obstacle to agricultural innovation.

Without these barriers, "Africa's farmers are more than capable of feeding themselves," the authors conclude.

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