<<Print>>

Former Secretary General of the United Nations [UN] and a recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, Kofi Annan, has expressed worry over the way and manner the continent wastes huge sums of monies on the importation of food. According him, a continent blessed with rich soil for agriculture rather opts to import and desert its farmers to grieve. The Nobel laureate revealed that, Africa spends a mind-boggling �US$35 billion� a year to import food. On his Facebook Wall, the Chancellor of the University of Ghana, Legon, Busumuru Kofi Annan questioned why monies spent by African leaders to import food is rather not channeled to local farmers. �A statistic to pause and make you think; Africa spends roughly US$35 billion a year on food import �Could you imagine if this money or a substantial portion of it went to African farmers and the fishing communities instead of foreign businesses? Could you imagine what impact this would have on the lives of those who toil on our farms day in and day out, out there alone, often with very little help from the government or the society?� Kofi Annan quizzed.