Ethiopia’s Prime Minister wins green revolution prize

ETHIOPIAN Prime Minister Meles Zenawi has been named the winner of a Norwegian US$200 000 (about N$1,4 million) prize that promotes United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan’s call for a green revolution in Africa.

Zenawi will receive the first Yara Prize “for his contribution to improved food security and human nutrition in ways that also protect the environment”, the prize committee said on Tuesday. “He has brought about political change in Ethiopia, and placed the rural poor first in the country’s development strategies,” the citation said.The award was created this year by Oslo-based agriculture group Yara International ASA to honour individuals or organisations who reduce poverty and hunger in Africa through sustainable projects.It will be presented by Jeffrey Sachs, a top economic adviser to Annan, at an award ceremony in Oslo on September 3.The prize committee noted that Ethiopia, one of the world’s poorest countries, has doubled its food production and achieved an annual growth rate of 5,8 per cent of gross domestic product despite severe droughts in 1998 and 2001.Ethiopia sees agriculture as the entry point for investments in rural development, with particular focus on women, and the creation of agro-industries.Budget allocation to the agricultural sector in Ethiopia is above 15 per cent, exceeding the goal of 10 per cent established by the African Union.In a press release announcing the award, the Yara Foundation said it had evaluated and emphasised progress to date, “and realises that there are still many unsolved challenges and shortcomings to be addressed”.”A 21st Century African Green Revolution is much more than just producing more food.It also involves providing an enabling policy environment, securing ownership rights, improving child nutrition, making markets work for the poor and doing all this in ways that protects and enhances the rural environment.It is a revolution to end hunger that also empowers people with a voice, and the opportunity to create their own future.”On Ethiopia, it said the country had reformed its public sector, had strengthened its human resource capital, had trained over 45 000 paraprofessional “barefoot” extension workers who now live and work in over 15 000 villages across the country, and has provided microcredit to over 4,5 million smallholder farm families.Ethiopia’s results are among the most promising for achieving the Millennium Development goal of cutting world hunger in half by 2015.- Nampa-AP and Own Reporter”He has brought about political change in Ethiopia, and placed the rural poor first in the country’s development strategies,” the citation said.The award was created this year by Oslo-based agriculture group Yara International ASA to honour individuals or organisations who reduce poverty and hunger in Africa through sustainable projects.It will be presented by Jeffrey Sachs, a top economic adviser to Annan, at an award ceremony in Oslo on September 3.The prize committee noted that Ethiopia, one of the world’s poorest countries, has doubled its food production and achieved an annual growth rate of 5,8 per cent of gross domestic product despite severe droughts in 1998 and 2001.Ethiopia sees agriculture as the entry point for investments in rural development, with particular focus on women, and the creation of agro-industries.Budget allocation to the agricultural sector in Ethiopia is above 15 per cent, exceeding the goal of 10 per cent established by the African Union.In a press release announcing the award, the Yara Foundation said it had evaluated and emphasised progress to date, “and realises that there are still many unsolved challenges and shortcomings to be addressed”.”A 21st Century African Green Revolution is much more than just producing more food.It also involves providing an enabling policy environment, securing ownership rights, improving child nutrition, making markets work for the poor and doing all this in ways that protects and enhances the rural environment.It is a revolution to end hunger that also empowers people with a voice, and the opportunity to create their own future.”On Ethiopia, it said the country had reformed its public sector, had strengthened its human resource capital, had trained over 45 000 paraprofessional “barefoot” extension workers who now live and work in over 15 000 villages across the country, and has provided microcredit to over 4,5 million smallholder farm families.Ethiopia’s results are among the most promising for achieving the Millennium Development goal of cutting world hunger in half by 2015.- Nampa-AP and Own Reporter