countries of Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, and Mozambique, but the opening of Embrapa, Brazil’s agricultural research agency, in Ghana in 2006 points to a new phase in its South–South cooperation. More recently, other African coun- tries, including Benin, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea, and Kenya, signed technical cooperation agreements with Embrapa and began implementing joint projects.
THE PRIVATE SECTOR
Te private sector is also taking on a larger role in agricultural research, poverty alleviation, and environmental sustainability. In January 2011, the World Economic Forum released an innova- tive road map for the agricultural development of its stakeholders.8 Te roadmap, developed by 17 global companies, was designed to lever- age public- and private-sector investment; share environmental best practices; develop agricultural markets, including opportunities for small-scale farmers; and improve access to affordable and nutritious food. It represents an important mile- stone in the private sector’s increased engagement in the global discourse on agricultural develop- ment and food security. Te private sector has now become one of the
World Food Programme’s top 10 donors. Fur- thermore, new emergency protocols that empha- size partnerships with the private sector were put in place to help the World Food Programme improve its ability to save lives and livelihoods in disasters and emergencies, most recently in Haiti, Pakistan, and the Horn of Africa. Another initiative, the Food Retail Industry Challenge Fund by the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID), is support- ing African farmers through innovative business partnerships. Te fund aims to improve the lives of African farmers by increasing European imports of agricultural products from poorer countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. So far, the fund supports 11 innovative partnerships linking farmers with European markets. In developing countries, the value chains of most food commodities are inefficient, with high
transaction costs that lead to high food prices. At the G20 agriculture ministers’ meeting on food security in Paris, participants discussed how the private sector could help stabilize global food markets and reduce price volatility. Tey jointly made a commitment to leveraging private-sector investment, using technology and information to stabilize global food markets and provide opportu- nities to poor farmers and consumers in the event of price spikes and volatility and extraordinary hunger levels. Teir deliberations emphasized that the private sector can help to solve food insecurity, but that its activities must be conducted in collabo- ration with governments as part of an integrated strategy to make the global food system more sus- tainable.9 Te global leaders agreed on ways to bet- ter coordinate public- and private-sector efforts, including the formation of national-level partner- ships to engage the private sector in sustainable agricultural development and the creation of a global forum to exchange best practices and pro- vide inputs to the G20 on a regular basis.
PHILANTHROPIC ORGANIZATIONS
Private philanthropic and civil society organiza- tions are promoting the global agricultural devel- opment agenda on a much greater scale than just a decade ago. Many international nongovernmen- tal organizations are transforming themselves with new goals and approaches, by mobiliz- ing resources for development programs, and by acting more independently from government- financed programs.
The private sector has now become one of the World Food Programme’s top 10 donors.
Te Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has
invested in an agricultural development program intended to help small farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia boost their productivity, increase their incomes, and build beter lives for
NEW PLAYERS 73
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