Has the greater concern for agriculture, including for agricultural research, been reflected in the priorities of donor institutions?
A. The present level of official development assistance for agriculture is lower than at any time since 1970. This trend is extremely worrying because agriculture is the front line of defence for food security in the LIFDCs and FAO is devoting all its capacities to promote this approach in its technical assistance and advisory activities. But even as there has been a decline in resources, the fact remains that one of the major problems is the actual implementation of past research findings. There is a stark contrast between crops grown on research stations and those grown on the average farmer’s fields and between the yield of leading farmers and those of marginal ones in the same country. If we are able to create a good socio-economic environment for agriculture, improve implementation of sound basic crop and animal husbandry practices, and ensure the availability of input and output marketing channels, this will go a long way towards solving Africa’s food problems. Q. How have FAO’s
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