What's New

The report of the G20 Agriculture Vice Ministers and Deputies released in 2012 followed up on the work of the 2011 Agriculture Ministers’ Action Plan [link to post on Action Plan]. The report discusses the progress made on a variety of initiatives, including the Agricultural Market Information System (AMIS), the Rapid Response Forum (RRF), the GEO-GLAM Crop Monitor, and the Tropical Agriculture Platform.

The leaders of the G7 (the United States, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the United Kingdom) met in early June for the annual G7 Summit. The resulting Leaders’ Declaration addressed a variety of global issues, including climate change, trade, and epidemics.

Although agriculture is a huge economic driver in most African countries, many African farmers remain poor. Poverty persists due to a large number of factors, one of which is smallholders’ lack of access to financial and market information and services. In Kenya, a project called DrumNet is working to change that.

This post was quoted directly from the Sustainable Development Knowledge Platform.

In preparation for the Third International Conference on Financing for Development , to be held in July in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, a draft outcome report laid out a new global framework for financing sustainable development as part of the post-2015 agenda, aiming to mobilize financial and technical resources for development, strengthen national and international policy environments, close technology gaps, and increase public and private investment in development.