Agricultural experts looking at Africa's enduring problems with food shortages and famine say hunger is unlikely to be solved there unless political stability returns to allow investment to flourish, according to Reuters. "Investment is not going to flow into unstable areas. It is not going to flow into poorly governed areas no matter what the natural resource space is -- it's just not going to happen," J.B. Penn, chief economist with equipment maker John Deere and former USDA economist, told a round-table at the World Agricultural Forum here this week. "First and foremost, we've got to get the political system right. Then investment will follow. With the investment comes the technology," Penn said. Africa, as it has for decades in the post-World War Two independence era, continues to be the leading destination for world food aid shipments but also for deaths from famine. Political chaos in Zimbabwe that turned the nation from a grain exporter to a hunger crisis is often cited by investors. "Particularly at risk of widespread famine are over a dozen so-called "left-behind" countries, almost all in sub-Saharan Africa, that feature severe and increasing natural resources constraints coupled with high population growth and limited nonagricultural income possibilities," the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations said on May 4. With the recession in rich countries, there are few fresh infusions of investment capital flowing into Africa, with much of the recent investment coming from private foundations funded by Bill and Melinda Gates, Warren Buffett and the Rockefellers, experts say.
