G8 Promises Farm Aid to Make African Countries More Self-Sufficient

In a marked shift, the U.S. and other G8 nations are promising aid to promote local agriculture in food-insecure countries instead of supplying them with surplus commodities from the farms of developed nations (largely the U.S.):

"Senegal's President Abdoulaye Wade told Reuters that Barack Obama, who will make his first visit to Africa as U.S. president after the G8, brought a welcome new focus on African farming.

Wade, who has championed efforts to increase agriculture in his West African country, which relies heavily on food imports, said Obama "really has the will to focus on food in Africa."

"The United States produces maize and some crops and sends it to people in famine, but the new conception is to produce these crops in Africa and not in the United States," Wade said."