Double that amount, add in fertilisers, seed, credit, information and proper metal warehouses (in some places a quarter of the harvest may be lost to rot and rats), and Africa might not just fill its own 2 billion stomachs, but export farm produce as well.Emerging Asia and Latin America have been able to absorb much greater numbers of people thanks to urbanisation.
Discrimination denies small-scale female farmers the same access men have to fertilizer, seeds, credit, membership in cooperatives and unions, and technical assistance.
Farmers need support for tools, seeds, credit, irrigation and water storage systems, and assistance from agronomists.
Smallholder farmers were supported with seeds and credit lines, and 50 million people benefited from the cash transfer scheme Bolsa Familia.
The past fifteen grand slams have had nine different winners, and only one of the top four seeds — extra credit if you knew Victoria Azarenka is ranked fourth in the world — made it to the quarterfinals in Paris.
At a time of growing debate about how to combat hunger in Africa, the evaluation team recommended that the bank, the single largest donor for African agriculture, concentrate on helping farmers get the basics they need to grow and market more food: fertilizer, seeds, water, credit, roads.
The country's successful use of subsidies is contributing to a broader reappraisal of the crucial role of agriculture in alleviating poverty in Africa and the pivotal importance of public investments in the basics of a farm economy: fertilizer, improved seed, farmer education, credit and agricultural research.
The coefficient of access to seed (SEACES) and credit (ACREDIT) was positive and statistically significant in the pooled data and among the lowland rice farming households.
According to Bernard Frahi, who heads the UN drug-control programme for Afghanistan and Pakistan, the immediate priority is to make sure that farmers have access to seeds, fertiliser and credit for alternative crops before the next opium-planting season in the autumn.
"The lending support from the Bank has been 'sprinkled' across various agricultural activities such as research, extension, credit, seeds and policy reforms in rural space, but with little recognition of the potential synergy among them to effectively contribute to agricultural development," he wrote.
And of the 20% that is, the majority is owned by poor smallholder farmers with just one or two hectares of land, who face enormous challenges when it comes to accessing things to improve harvests and incomes that developed world farmers perhaps take for granted: credit; seeds; fertiliser; information on weather and market prices; and the markets to sell their products.
