Africa

A selection of photos from across Africa and Africans elsewhere this week.

Fayez al-Serraj, whose troops face an insurgency, feels "abandoned" by his international allies.

In 2014, Hanna Hemrom sought the help of her teacher who persuaded some parents to let their daughters play football. They formed the Rangatungi United Women Football Academy, which teaches football to girls, helping them feel empowered. Courtesy: Young Bangla

By Tharanga Yakupitiyage
UNITED NATIONS, Apr 18 2019 (IPS)

For too long, women and girls have been excluded from the playing field—literally. But now, many are paving the way in the fight against gender inequality through sports.

Sports is being increasingly used as a tool for empowering girls around the world, helping challenge gender norms on and off the field.

Studies have found that promoting sports among girls can not only help improve their physical health, but also build self-esteem, courage, and leadership.

Just last month, United Nations Women and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) joined forces to host the Women and Sports Awards which celebrated some of the change makers who have helped advance women and girls through sport.

One such role model is Po Chun Liu who overcame numerous obstacles to become the first female baseball umpire in Taiwan and make the Forbes’ 2018 list of the most powerful women in international sports.

She continues to create opportunities for girls and women to get involved with sport, helping “strike out gender discrimination.”

“It’s our responsibility to empower girls and women so they’ll realise their full potential and take charge of their life…to help a girl is to help a family,” said Liu.

IOC’s President Thomas Bach echoed similar sentiments, stating: “Sports give girls and women self-confidence…especially in countries where women’s rights aren’t a top priority yet, there’s a tremendous benefit to women’s and girls’ participation in sport.”

“In today’s world, no organisation or country can afford to let half of the population be left behind – either in sport or in society. Advancing women in and through sport is truly a team effort. By joining hands and working together, sport can inspire the necessary change and lead the way,” he added.

In the small village of Rangatungi in Bangladesh, Hanna Hemrom is leading the way to achieve this vision.

Formed in 2014, the Rangatungi United Women Football Academy teaches football to girls, helping them feel empowered.

After only seeing boys on the field, Hemrom sought the help of her teacher who persuaded some parents to let their daughters play football.

“When the other girls and I walked from home to the football fields, people use to taunt us. They said we would not be able to get married because we wear shorts and play football. But we still carried on playing,” she recalled, adding that they struggled to persuade others to play.

But with persistence and determination, girls continue to express interest and join the team, helping transform Hemrom and her fellow teammates’ lives.

“I am a Santal girl who used to be very shy and didn’t mix with Bengali girls. Football has brought me close to other girls – Muslim, Hindu and we all play together now,” Hemrom said.

“I think football is a good habit. Earlier girls in our village used to do nothing or just talk over phone or indulge in some silly things. We now play football with the girls and boys of our village,” she added.

In 2016, the Rangatungi United Women Football team competed in the under 14 national football competition and a year later, they became the champions in the Rangpur division.

Now the girls have even bigger dreams, aspiring to play for the national team and hoping to inspire others to dream big too.

Young Bangla, the largest youth forum in Bangladesh, recognised the Rangatungi United Women Football Academy as one of the top 10 youth initiatives in the country.

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The post Empowering Girls Through Sport appeared first on Inter Press Service.

A bakery shop in Cairo, Egypt. Egyptian flatbread, known as Aish baladi or country bread is on the table of all Egyptians, even the poorest, thanks to a smartcard system that assigns certain quantities to each family to avoid unnecessary waste.

By Maged Srour
CAIRO, Apr 18 2019 (IPS)

“Unfortunately the overall nutritional panorama of Egypt does not look well,” says Dr. Sara Diana Garduno Diaz, an expert concentrating on nutrition and biology at the American University of the Middle East. Diaz’s research focuses on dietary patterns and ethnic-associated risk factors for metabolic syndrome.

“While traditionally a country known for its lavish and welcoming food patterns, the quality of eating has been compromised,” she tells IPS.

Her findings are echoed by Oliver Petrovic, Chief of Health and Nutrition at the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Egypt: “Unhealthy foods such as sugary biscuits, candy, chips and cakes, make up one-third of the foods consumed daily by Egyptian infants.”

Child consumption of sugary snack foods was associated with a 51 percent higher likelihood of being part of a ‘stunted child and obese mother’ household, Petrovic tells IPS. “Only about half of children under two consume iron rich foods,” he adds.

In a country where one in five children are stunted or too short for their age, malnutrition accounts for 35 percent of the disease burden in children younger than five, warns the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).

The definition of stunting, according to UNICEF, “is a measure of chronic malnutrition; it reflects inadequate nutrition over a long period, or effects of recurrent or chronic illnesses.” 

A 2018 UNICEF report on Egypt explains maternal and child malnutrition are influenced by inadequate dietary intake and disease. The report further states that inadequate dietary intake refers to poor access to “a balanced diet among the poorest sections of society, as well as poor dietary habits, lifestyle and lack of nutritional awareness across the population, as opposed to issues of food availability.”

It also notes that not being able to optimise breast feeding plays a role in this. In addition, poor sanitation and hygiene are also underlying causes of malnutrition. 

“Traditional eating practices of the entire region relied heavily on seasonal and local foods, slow cooking methods, communal eating and avoidance of food waste but more recently habits such as rushing meals and preference for cheaper sources of energy are becoming the norm,” Diaz points out.

Junk food is on the rise

And the negative consequences of this extends over time.

FAO estimates that between two and six percent of stunted children become stunted adults who are less productive than adults of normal stature. Increased morbidity and mortality; decreased cognitive, motor, language and socio-emotional development; and an increase in non-communicable diseases like diabetes and heart conditions are some of the short- and long-term effects of stunting.

“It is important to be aware of the crucial importance of a proper nutrition in the first years of life. They have a profound effect on a child’s future. These years are a critical early window of opportunity to provide the nutrition, protection, bonding and stimulation that children need to reach their full potential,” Petrovic tells IPS.

“Adequate nutrition, safe environments and responsive adult caregiving are the best ways to support healthy brain development,” he adds.

On the other hand, the undernourishment rate in the total Egyptian population between 2014 and 2016 was less than five percent according to the World Food Programme. Undernourishment, according to FAO, is “an estimate of the proportion of the population whose habitual food consumption is insufficient to provide the dietary energy levels that are required to maintain a normal active and healthy life.” 

The prevalence of five percent is the same as most industrialised countries, showing that the situation is not as critical as in sub-Saharan Africa. In Zambia, Zimbabwe and Malawi, for instance, one in every three people is undernourished.

Egypt and food challenges: high score in ‘food loss and waste’, poor score in ‘dietary patterns’

But the problem lies not only with Egypt. All Arab countries face complex food challenges, as identified by the Food Sustainability Index (FSI), developed by the Economist Intelligence Unit with the Barilla Center for Food and Nutrition (BCFN).

Each country  is ranked according to food loss and waste, sustainable agriculture and nutritional challenges. According to the FSI Whitepaper 2018, Egypt ranked 50th out of 67 countries analysed worldwide for malnourishment, making it one of four countries not from sub-Saharan African that were ranked in the bottom 20.  The other three nations are Saudi Arabia, India and Indonesia.

However, overall Egypt scored moderately for nutritional challenges. The rather good result obtained in the ‘life quality’ category, did not sufficiently offset the very low results obtained in the ‘lifestyle’ and ‘dietary patterns’ categories.

Food loss and waste: the ‘smartcard system’ in Egypt

Arab countries all ranked low in the FSI with regards to food loss and waste. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) were ranked the 29th and 35th performing countries respectively for food loss and waste among 35 high-income countries, while Egypt ranked 10th out of 23 middle-income countries.

Egypt has specifically introduced a measure–a smartcard system–that has limited the problem nationally.

The programme, which impacts about 80 percent of the Egyptian population, establishes the maximum daily amount of subsidised bread that can be requested by each family member.

As a result, food waste has decreased considerably and other countries like Jordan are considering implementing this model to avoid waste on subsidised basic food items.

What can be done?

Egypt certainly lives in a situation of great vulnerability regarding nutritional challenges.

The aridity of the region places pressure on agriculture and the Nile alone is not enough to satisfy the needs of more than 90 million inhabitants. Much of the Nile water is used for agriculture and inefficient water management at local level can lead to scarcity of supply to entire communities. Moreover, climate change amplifies all these challenges.

The rise in prices of foodstuffs has also forced millions of Egyptians to adopt a less expensive but also less healthy lifestyle.

To reverse the current trends of malnutrition (high prevalence of stunting, increasing underweight and increasing overweight at the same time), requires careful consideration of the common causes and a complex, multisector approach to address the underlying causes.

“At the policy level, UNICEF and the World Bank have worked on better understanding of the problem,” Petrovic tells IPS.

“They have supported the Egyptian Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP) in developing an investment case, with in-depth analysis of the situation and with the proposed and costed interventions needed to reduce stunting. UNICEF is also providing technical support to the Ministry of Health and Population in revising the Nutrition Strategy and developing the new and costed action plan for nutrition,” he adds.

Overall, the picture of food security in Egypt appears positive and negative at the same time. The situation must be kept under control by authorities, farmers and all Egyptians themselves.

“In my opinion it is not a question to be addressed exclusively by policymakers,” says Diaz.

“I believe the solution requires changes at an individual and community (home) level. These changes of course require support from policymakers, for example, through nutrition education programmes, micro-loans to boost local farmers and other local food production initiatives and infrastructure to improve food security.

“The policies may exist or be under developed but will remain useless unless they are accepted and implemented by the people.”

Related Articles

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• Water Scarcity and Poor Water Management Makes Life Difficult for Egyptians

The post Egypt’s Food Challenge: a Good Effort but Not Enough appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Sudanese protest groups require unity to secure civilian rule, the BBC's Alastair Leithead says.

Walter Onnoghen is convicted of not declaring his assets and is banned from public office for 10 years.

Yemen home for the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS, Apr 18 2019 (IPS)

President Donald Trump’s decision to veto a bi-partisan Congressional resolution to end US military involvement in a devastating Saudi-led four-year conflict in Yemen– is expected to escalate the ongoing war in the trouble-plagued region.

The weapons used by the Saudis in the reckless bombing of mostly civilian targets, including schools and hospitals, are largely from the United States: F-15 fighter planes, Bell helicopters, drones, air-to-surface missiles, M60 battle tanks, laser-guided bombs and heavy artillery.

Trump’s veto on April 16 is expected to ensure the uninterrupted flow of American-made weapons into a war zone described by the United Nations as the “world’s worst humanitarian disaster”.

In its latest report released last month, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said arms imports by Middle Eastern countries increased by 87 per cent between 2009–13 and 2014–18 and accounted for 35 per cent of global arms imports in 2014–18.

Saudi Arabia became the world’s largest arms importer in 2014–18, with an increase of 192 per cent compared with 2009–13.

Currently, the US is one of the largest arms suppliers to Saudi Arabia.

Citing conservative UN estimates, Ole Solvang, Policy Director at the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), told IPS some 17,700 civilians have been killed in the fighting since 2015.

An estimated 2,310 people have died from cholera according to the World Health Organisation (WHO), and 85,000 children under the age of five have died from starvation.

Solvang said more bombs and weapons in Yemen will only mean more suffering and death.

“By providing such extensive military and diplomatic support for one side of the conflict, the United States is deepening and prolonging a crisis that has immediate and severe consequences for Yemen— and civilians are paying the price,” he noted.

David Miliband, president of the International Rescue Committee, described Trump’s veto as “morally and strategically wrong-headed.”

This was Trump’s second veto, the first being the rejection of a bipartisan Congressional resolution aimed at overturning his declaration of “national emergency” at the southwestern border to keep immigrants and refugees from the US.

The death toll in Yemen has continued to rise.

Justifying US arms sales to Saudi Arabia, Trump has repeatedly said that if the US doesn’t sell weapons, the Chinese and the Russians will sell them.

Asked if this a valid argument, NRC’s Solvang told IPS : “I have no idea if the Chinese or the Russians would step in to replace US arms sales. As we now know, there is no shortage of countries willing to sell arms to the (Saudi-led) Coalition “ – judging by the latest revelations out of France and the previous information out of the UK.

“The argument is basically irrelevant, and avoids the question of whether the US wants to be complicit in supporting the killing of civilians in Yemen. Congress thinks the US should not be and that’s what’s important here,” he said.

Meanwhile, US arms supplies to the Saudi-led coalition are also viewed as a move directed at Iran which is allied with the Yemenis caught in the middle of a larger confrontation between Iran on one side and the US and the Saudis on the other.

Solvang said that was also Trump’s justification for the veto.

He pointed out that the US views Ansar Allah, also known as the Houthis, as an Iranian proxy force, and US aid to the Coalition is part of the wider struggle in the region against Iran.

“This is not in dispute and the analysis is enthusiastically embraced by key administration officials, such as Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who has accused Ansar Allah of being the primary cause of the humanitarian catastrophe in Yemen.”

This does not, however, relieve the US of its obligations to do what it can to protect civilians. That includes putting as much pressure on the coalition as it can – privately and publicly – to abide by the laws of war, said Solvang.

And, ultimately, if the US sees that it is not able to shift coalition behaviour sufficiently, end the cooperation or risk becoming complicit in the abuses, these obligations are the same for all parties to the war in Yemen.

Asked about the rising casualties, he pointed out that in the first three months of this year alone, NRC’s analysis of attacks on civilians reveals that civilian casualties in Hajjah and Taiz alone have more than doubled since the Hodeidah ceasefire and Stockholm Agreement came into effect, with 164 and 184 people killed respectively.

An estimated 788 civilian casualties were reported nationwide since 18 December last year. The majority of them, 318 people, were killed by shelling. Across Yemen, a total of 1,631 houses, 385 farms, 47 local businesses and 13 schools were attacked in the same period.

Meanwhile, in a statement released April 17, the 15-member UN Security Council reiterated their call on the (warring) parties to fulfil their obligations under international human rights law and international humanitarian law, including ensuring the protection of civilians.

They expressed deep concern at the devastating impact this conflict has had on civilians, especially Yemeni children.

And they reminded all parties of their obligations towards children affected by armed conflict, and called on them to engage constructively with the Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict to implement their commitments and obligations.

The writer can be contacted at thalifdeen@ips.org

The post Trump’s Veto Will Trigger More US Arms to Kill Civilians in Yemen appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Cameroon come from behind to beat Morocco 2-1 at the Under-17 Africa Cup of Nations in Tanzania to clinch a place at the World Cup.

Artisanal diamond miners at work in the alluvial diamond mines around the eastern town of Koidu, Sierra Leone. Credit: Tommy Trenchard/IPS

By Ivar Andersen and Linda Flood
STOCKHOLM, Apr 18 2019 (IPS)

The mining industry is one of the world’s most dangerous industries. Globally, the death toll is at least 14,000 workers per year. But how many lives are actually lost is something that neither trade unions, national governments or the United Nations know.

The men were sitting down for lunch in the canteen. January was about to turn into February but for them life would end then and there. Suddenly, a flood of mud and sludge swept in. The iron ore mine Feijao was destroyed when a dam in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais collapsed.

At least 206 people died in the accident, which could probably have been avoided. Leaked documents have shown that the directors of the multinational mining company Vale knew about the dangers of the dam.

Globally, the mining industry employs more than 24 million people.

Everywhere – from China to Kazakhstan – miners go to work with their lives on the line. Most of the people who die do so in silence.

The mining industry is full of informal jobs. And the number of fatal accidents is considerably higher than in most other sectors.

Getting a thorough picture of the number of fatalities is difficult. When Arbetet Global took a close look at the ten biggest mining countries, it turned out that not even welfare states like Canada had comprehensive statistics.

“In order to get these numbers you would have to contact every province, and then add the numbers together,” a representative from the trade organisation Mining Association of Canada writes.

Major mining accidents in 2019

January 19 – China
21 mine workers died when a coal mine collapsed in the Chinese province Shaanxi. Local authorities have announced that more inspectors will review the so-called high-risk mines this spring.

January 25 – Brazil
At least 206 people lost their lives in Brazil when a dam connected to the iron ore mine Feijao collapsed. More than two months later, 102 people are still missing.

February 6 – South Africa
At least 18 people died in a gas explosion in a coal mine in Mpumalanga, South Africa. The victims allegedly worked in the mine without permits.

February 26 – Indonesia
At least 24 people lost their lives in an illegal gold mine in Indonesia after a big earthquake. Rescue workers also found body parts that couldn’t be identified from four other people.

March 2 – India
Four mine workers died in an illegal coal mine in the state of Nagaland, in northern India. The cause of death is unknown but it is believed that the workers inhaled poisonous gas.

March 16 – China
20 mine workers died and 30 were injured in the Chinese city of Xilingol. The workers were on their way down into the mine when the breaks of their shuttle vehicle failed and the driver lost control of the vehicle.

Sources: New China News Agency, O Globo, The Times, Jakarta Post, Shillong Times
Glen Mpufane, Director of Mining at the global trade union IndustriAll, estimates that the mining industry claims thousands of lives every year.

“I would say 7,000–8,000.”

He stresses that the numbers are unreliable. Some counties have reliable statistics, but globally the reporting on fatal accidents in the workplace has major flaws.

“It’s a big handicap for us. Without reliable data it’s much harder to follow the development. And we don’t have the resources to compile our own statistics. Our investigative unit isn’t that large and we have 14 sectors to organise.”

The ILO’s department of statistics, based in Geneva, calls itself “the world’s leading source of labour statistics”. But not even here do we find comprehensive information. A quick search in the statistical database reveals huge gaps in the reporting.

“We don’t know all that much about work-related fatalities in the world. We only get data if it’s collected on a national level,” says Rosina Gammarano, economist and statistician at the UN agency.

If you want figures concerning employment, stock prices, or BNP-development, all you need to do is a quick google search.

For figures relating to health and safety in the workplace however, you’re much worse off.

Part of the explanation is that responsibility for the reporting is often divided among several departments, as opposed to, for example, financial statistics. But the main problem is something else, according to Rosina Gammarano.

“Compared to other parts of labour market statistics, calculating death tolls is a very complicated, because it’s such a sensitive issue. There are several reasons why it is so under-reported. It could be that employers are not reporting because they don’t want inspections, or that governments don’t want negative attention.”

For Rosina Gammarano and her colleagues, the unwillingness to report fatalities is a source of frustration.

“We tend to only care about what we can quantify. Without statistics, the governments, corporations, and the international community won’t care, because they wont know it’s a problem. Any if you don’t have numbers, it is also always possible for someone to claim that there hasn’t been any accidents.”

For the employees of the world, this is, literally, a question of life or death.

“The lack of statistics hides the fact that there are many, many serious accidents,” Rosina Gammarano says. “It’s only by counting them that you can make the problem visible and force politicians to pay attention to it. For us here at the department of statistics at the ILO, that’s the driving force, to make the invisible visible.”

She’s not overly optimistic.

“This isn’t something you can solve by putting an infinite number of statisticians in a room. It has to start with a genuine desire to shed light on the accidents and eliminate the risks. If governments and employers aren’t serious about wanting to improve safety, I doubt we’ll ever get good statistics.”

A decade ago, the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers’ Unions (ICEM), which has since merged with IndustriAll, estimated that the yearly number of deaths exceeded 12,000. The decrease is mainly due to lower death tolls in China.

In 2005, almost 6,000 workers lost their lives in the country’s coal mines alone, according to official statistics. In 2018, the number had decreased significantly, to 333.

The independent labour rights organisation China Labour Bulletin (CLB) deems that these numbers reflect an actual decrease, even though many deaths still go unrecorded.

“Those are the accidents and deaths that have been reported. There’s always a risk that some have been silenced, that happens regularly,” according to Director of Communication Geoffrey Crothall.

In the early 2000’s, the Chinese coal marked grew explosively. The country’s massive investments in infrastructure demanded cheap energy and regulations for this wildly growing sector was not prioritised.

According to CLB, the government has since increased the number of health and safety inspections, but Geoffery Crothall argues that the decreasing death toll mostly depends on reduced production.

Hundreds of thousands of coal mining jobs have disappeared as the Chinese economy has slowed down.

“The sector has been decreasing since 2015, demand has been dwindling, and coal workers have lost their jobs. That’s why we see fewer accidents.”

This pattern is visible all over the world. In the industrialised world, efforts to increase health and safety in the workplace has led to fewer deaths, but globally the decrease stems from the fact that the sector now employs fewer people.

In 1998, the ILO estimated that 36 million people were employed in mining globally, of which six million worked in the informal sector.

Today, the UN agency estimates that there are 24 million mine workers, including both formal and informal employment. ILO is currently collecting information as grounds for a new estimation on the informal sector, a process which involves several different ILO departments.

Trade unions say that the lack of reliable statistics complicate their work, while the ILO says that unwillingness to report deaths hides the true scope of the problem.

But even if all of this would change – if correct reporting of workplace accidents all of a sudden became a top priority on the global political agenda – would a complete picture of the human cost of the mining industry become clear.

When IndustriAll estimates the yearly amount of deaths to 7,000-8,000, it is referring to the formal sector. In the informal sector the uncertainty is too great for Glen Mpufane to dare say a number.

“But the death toll is definitely higher than in the formal sector,” he says.

“It’s a tragedy that is happening every day, with mine workers dying in Pakistan, Peru, Congo, Zimbabwe, Zambia, and they are never added into the official statistics. The deaths we hear about are just the tip of the iceberg.”

Translation: Cecilia Studer

 

This story was originally published by Arbetet Global

 

The post “A Question of Life or Death” appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Adding value to coconut at Aelan Ltd. in Vanuatu. Credit: Commonwealth Secretariat.

By Josephine Latu-Sanft
PORT VILA, Apr 18 2019 (IPS)

In the Pacific, coconut is king. Known as the ‘tree of life’, locals make use of every part of the tree to survive – the fruit for eating, husks for fuelling fires, fronds for making multiuse baskets, and the trunk for building houses.

Coconuts also drive economic growth, with Pacific Island countries supplying 50 per cent of the world’s copra trade. Papua New Guinea is the world’s largest exporter of copra – the dried coconut flesh from which oil is extracted – followed by Vanuatu.

However, fluctuating global copra prices can leave small Pacific economies very vulnerable.

Opening a Commonwealth workshop on micro, small and medium enterprises in Port Vila last week, Vanuatu’s Deputy Prime Minister Bob Loughman explained: “In 2017, Vanuatu exported 1.8 billion worth of copra (roughly USD 18 million). In 2018, the global price plummeted, and as a result the value of our copra exports fell by 75 per cent.

“My question is, why is Vanuatu still producing copra? Why can our farmers and communities not produce coconut oil instead?”

 

Vanuatu Deputy Prime Minister Bob Loughman wants the country to focus on value addition and moving up global value chains. Credit: Commonwealth Secretariat.

 

Learning from experience, the island nation of 280,000 people set out to transform the way it trades with others. The aim is to move up the ‘global value chain’ – the production cycle from the field to the final product – to target higher value exports.

These aspirations have been backed by EUR 20million from the European Development Fund for the Vanuatu Value Chain Programme. But as for many other small island states, there are several key hurdles to overcome.

 

Challenges and opportunities

Learning from experience, the island nation of 280,000 people set out to transform the way it trades with others. The aim is to move up the ‘global value chain’ – the production cycle from the field to the final product – to target higher value exports.

In Port Vila, Commonwealth acting head of trade competitiveness, Sujeevan Perera, told delegates about a cruise ship which once docked at a Caribbean destination and exhausted the country’s beer supply. It took a month before stocks were refilled.

He said: “Pacific suppliers are mostly micro, small and medium sized enterprises (MSMEs). Would they be able to fill the demands of, say, a large supermarket that needs several 50ft containers of a product each week?

“If they do not have the capacity, buyers and investors can move elsewhere.”

There are possible solutions: one is having a regional hub, supplied by other smaller countries for export to a bigger client. Otherwise, businesses could focus on high value niche markets.

The latter is a path local business owners are already actively pursuing.

Sandrine Wallez, manager of Alternative Communities Trade in Vanuatu (ACTIV) Ltd, is looking to export highly specialised goods such as vegan chocolate, virgin coconut oil and coconut jam.

She said: “Nowadays, people are looking for more organic products. Pacific products are already organic by default, so we should take advantage of this.

“However, we’re all facing the same problem in the Pacific: we are small, which is very difficult in this world market of bulk commodity and big volume.

“We have niche market products which have high value, but low volume, so to get out of the country is very expensive.  Sometimes it’s quite difficult to access some markets.”

She urged development partners to support Pacific businesses in finding the right customers, networking, and developing a Pacific-wide brand that competes with others across the globe.

 

Enhancing connectivity

The meeting in Port Vila on 10-11 April was the first to drill down into the issues faced by micro, small and medium enterprises in agribusiness, since the Commonwealth adopted its flagship programme on trade and investment. Known as the Commonwealth Connectivity Agenda (CCA), it aims to unlock $2 trillion worth of intra-Commonwealth trade by 2030.

Delegates agreed the coconut sector in the Pacific has great potential. However, it needs commitment and coordination from a range of players, including government and businesses.

CCA lead Kirk Haywood said: “This first meeting of the supply side connectivity ‘cluster’, or working group, acted as a platform for members to share experiences, forge networks, and exchange solutions for common problems.

“This will be backed by further research and strategies under the CCA that would help Commonwealth countries, especially small states, benefit more from global trade.”

The meeting agreed on an action plan that will outline opportunities and challenges for small and medium agribusinesses, explore financing options, and look at harnessing technology for business development.

 

The post Climbing the Coconut Value Chain in the Pacific appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

Josephine Latu-Sanft is Senior Communications Officer, Commonwealth Secretariat

The post Climbing the Coconut Value Chain in the Pacific appeared first on Inter Press Service.

The first captain of Cameroon's women's football team Regine Mvoue says a lack of facilities is holding back the development of the women's game in the country.

South African city Durban steps in to host the regional Cosafa Cup to replace Zimbabwe.

The bones of the huge creature belong to a new species which roamed east Africa 20 million years ago.

Reclamation of desertified, sandified land on either side of the Sudu desert road in Wengniute County, China. Credit: Manipadma Jena/IPS

By Daud Khan
ROME, Apr 18 2019 (IPS)

As China has moved from a poor isolated country to a major player in the world economic and political sphere, developing countries need to learn how to engage.  

In the first of this two part article I explored how best developing countries could benefit from the ongoing and planned flow of investments into their countries.

In this second part I look at some of the critical elements of China’s development experience and discuss what lessons could be drawn for policies and programmes in other developing countries. Given my background and experience I shall look at this issue from the perspective of agriculture and rural development, although the key ideas most likely also apply to other sectors.

Overall growth in China over the past 25 years has years has averaged 9% per year!!  This is while many other developing countries have struggled to keep growth above population increases.

The key to this fast economic growth is China’s amazingly high investment rate – over 40% in the past two and a half decades.  In comparison, most other developing countries struggle to reach investment rates of 15%.

Much of the investment and the associated growth occurred in manufacturing and associated services which is what make the country the workshop of the world.

However, it is important to recall that one of the key factors underpinnings China’ performance was strong agricultural performance with growth of around 4-5%. – this rate of growth in the agriculture sector is now a benchmark rate for other developing countries who wish to achieve rapid economic development.

It is important to recall that one of the key factors underpinnings China’ performance was strong agricultural performance with growth of around 4-5%. - this rate of growth in the agriculture sector is now a benchmark rate for other developing countries who wish to achieve rapid economic development

This relatively high growth had two consequences. Firstly, it helped maintain low prices, particularly for food and agricultural raw materials, and secondly, it allowed a massive release of labour from agriculture.

The proportion of total labour employed in agriculture in China dropped from around well over 50% in 1991 to around 16% in 2018, a transformation that only a few other countries in the world, such as Thailand and VietNam even come close to.

The low prices of food and agricultural raw materials, along with the transfer of labour out of agriculture, provided the cheap manpower and inputs that laid the foundation for China’s competitive growth in manufacturing and services.

China’s agriculture growth reflects higher yields and productivity improvements, rather than an increase in inputs.  Productivity increases took place along the full value chain, from postharvest handing to processing, packaging and marketing.

This was the result of investments in machinery, equipment, irrigation, storage and logistics, as well as a strong push on research and technology diffusion.   There were also changes in the structure of production which reflect changes in demand patterns particularly of richer, more urbanised consumers.

Output of traditional cereals such as wheat and rice fell, while that of fruits, vegetables, livestock products and fisheries increased rapidly.    China also integrated well with the world trading system, importing crops which were cheaper on the world market such as soyabean, needed for the rapidly expanding livestock sector; and cotton, needed for the textile industry.

Several factors stand out from China’s experience that are of importance to other developing countries. The most important of these are: high levels of public investments in key infrastructure, which eased and facilitated private investments; a strong push for technological change and innovation; and a dynamic approach to institutional reforms and critical policy issues such as liberalization of trade and markets. However, other developing countries may find that implementing these lessons will not be easy and will require substantial changes in their governments do business.

Developing countries need to raise investment rates, including in agriculture. However, low saving rates and poor taxation capacity limit the extent that this can be done. The funds needed to make transformative change will have to come from foreign sources and the only country that can do this at the scale required is China.

The saving’s rate in China is around 50% of GDP and continues to outpace investment providing huge resources to invest overseas. Ensuring that developing countries attract, and then make the best use of Chinese investments is thus critical. This is a topic I dealt with in my preceding paper.

At the same time, Governments in developing countries need to make far better use of the limited available public funds. In a number of countries, public funds from Government or donors are not spent in a timely manner due to bureaucratic and administrative inefficiencies.

When they are spent, much goes into corruption; on appeasing political constituencies particularly by providing low-skill, unproductive jobs; or funding activities that are best left to the private sector.  Developing countries also need to spend much more on research and technological innovation.

Overall China spends over 2% of GDP on research and development – a massive US$200 billion/year. Spending on agriculture is lower – about 0.6% of Agriculture GDP – but this still makes it the largest public agricultural research system in the world. The only other developing countries which have anything similar in size and complexity are Brazil – which spends over 1.5% to 2% of agriculture GDP on research, – and India which spend around 0.3%.

Actions to improve public spending, including larger allocations to research and technological innovations, require a mix of administrative and political actions which are the capacities of Governments of developing countries to implement if they so wish.

However, getting the right mix of policies especially with regard to broad development visions and strategies is more complex. In the unipolar world which emerged after the fall of the USSR, neo-liberalism provided the dominant development paradigm. The success of China, and countries such as Viet Nam, are providing an alternative to this neoliberal paradigm where the role of the state is stronger, and markets are used to guide local decisions but with strategic directions and key economic levers in the hands of the Government.

Most western academic institutions, traditional donor agencies and international UN agencies aligned themselves with the neoliberal view.  However, developing countries faced with a successful and emergent China need to think harder about their development strategies and policies.

This will require them to work closely not just with traditional donors and UN agencies but increasingly with academia, civil society and research institutions, at home as well as in China. As mentioned in the first of these two articles, this is something that developing country governments need to still need to learn how to do.

 

Daud Khan has more than 30 years of experience on development issues with various national and international organizations. He has degrees in economics from the LSE and Oxford; and a degree in Environmental Management from the Imperial College of Science and Technology.  

The post Lessons From China: Fostering Agricultural Growth and Poverty Reduction appeared first on Inter Press Service.

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