Washington Post | 5 Aug 2014

Africa agricultural initiative gets $7 billion boost from private companies

By Juliet Eilperin

A group of African and U.S. firms on Tuesday will announce an additional $7 billion in spending to promote agricultural development in Africa, nearly doubling an Obama administration initiative aimed at mobilizing private money to ease hunger and poverty on the continent.

The commitments — which are being made as part of this week’s U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit and include a $5 billion pledge by ­Coca-Cola to source more of its products from Africa by the end of the decade — highlight how U.S. food aid policy has shifted under President Obama. Rather than relying primarily on federal funds to support small farmers overseas, the administration has enlisted African companies and major multinationals to help address some of the development challenges Africans still face. http://www.farmlandgrab.org/post/view/23795-africa-agricultural-initiative-gets-7-billion-boost-from-private-companies