AU calls for subsidies for smallholder farmers
Malawian president and African Union chairman, Bingu wa Mutharika, called on Thursday (28 October 2010) for more subsidies for poor smallholder farmers in Africa. Wa Mutharika told a meeting of African agriculture ministers that they should fight for agricultural subsidies that provide poor farmers with fertilisers, seeds, pesticides, tractors, and irrigation equipment.
He noted that the continent currently spends nearly 22 billion US dollars per year importing food. A subsidy programme in Malawi has boosted farmers' harvests and economic growth at an annual average of seven per cent in the past four years, according to news agency Reuters.