Brazil can boost African agriculture. It understands the challenges that African governments will

face as they try to ramp up crop production and to develop complex supply chains for agribusiness. Brazil’s farm industry is currently worth roughly $250 billion, and it accounts for about 35 percent of the country’s exports.

In recent years, Brazil has quietly accelerated its foreign aid. It is also an agriculture powerhouse. As African governments try to facilitate a Green Revolution in Africa, Brazil is uniquely positioned to help.

In the 1970s, however, Brazilian agriculture suffered from low yields and a lack of institutions to increase production.

Over the next 30 years, Brazil achieved tremendous yield increases in grains, sugarcane and dairy through targeted state investment. It started a research institution, Embrapa, which now has 41 centers across the country and a budget of over $1 billion. Embrapa claims that every dollar it has invested in technology development has produced $6.60 in returns for Brazilians. Brazil also invested in rural agriculture through Pronaf, a scheme that provides financing guarantees for equipment and encourages technology uptake.

Brazil is strongly interested in assisting Africa with its agriculture development. It is still a developing country itself, though, and while its foreign aid is rising, the need in Africa far exceeds what it can reasonably give. Western governments should direct some of their agriculture development aid through Embrapa, taking advantage of the institution’s accumulated expertise and talented staff. A new initiative called the Africa-Brazil Agriculture Innovation Marketplace brings together a group of donors, including the World Bank, to fund such projects. However, the initiative will only fund seven projects for a maximum of $80,000 each — a meager sum given the millions flowing to agriculture development in Africa.

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/africa/100802/brazil-aid-lula-agriculture