SciDev.Net: African agriculture needs trade not aid
David Bennett, a senior member of St. Edmund’s College, Cambridge, U.K. and co-leader of the Biosciences for Farming in Africa program

“…[F]or any solution to food security to be truly sustainable, people have to move from depending on aid to depending on trade. That is the elephant in the room when it comes to Africa — clearly evident but all too frequently hidden away and not spoken about. … Top-down funding and hand-out donations are short-term solutions with consequences including an inability to establish longer-term planning. … Donors need to fund initiatives that really support people in achieving independence and self-reliance. … Donor funding should also be channeled into business advice and capital to help small businesses and ‘spin-out’ firms from universities and research institutions…” (12/31).