The vital role that small-scale farming communities have to play in that continent’s future economic growth and development is important to acknowledge.

It is heartening therefore that this week’s report from the Africa Progress Panel (APP) should expressly focus on the role of small-scale farmers in the future of Africa.

 The 2014 report reinforces the belief that Self Help Africa has held for 30 years – that rural farming communities are vital if hunger and poverty is to be eradicated in sub-Saharan Africa.

APP chairman, the former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, spoke this week of the need to support the creation of a flourishing farm sector, and warned that ‘the majority of Africans will be cut adrift from the rising tide of prosperity’ if the need to invest in agricultural development was ignored.

The APP, which includes Bob Geldof amongst its membership, is a hugely influential body. We must hope that international governments and decision makers heed their recommendations, and provide the necessary support, so that Africa’s enormous potential can be unlocked, and its people can look forward to a future that is free from hunger and dependence.

Ray Jordan CEO Self Help Africa