Africa: New aid for agriculture: How will it be realized?

After years of ‘neglect’ in favour of health and education assistance in Africa, the food crisis has concentrated the donor community’s minds on the need for overseas development aid for African agriculture. This is welcome, but what sort of policies are being proposed and what impact will they have for the African farmer? This report reviews policy documents of some of the major donors providing aid for African agricultural development – between 2004 and 2008 – as well as United Nations, international finance, agricultural research and African institutions.