CHINA'S exploding population has been lauded as an economic opportunity for Australian agriculture for much of the past decade.
The potential for hay exports to feed China's dairy industry, and perhaps less positively, real estate opportunities for landholders struggling to sell, have been well documented in mainstream media.
But according to the Reframing the Food Security Agenda, A National Forum on Food Security to 2050 forum held in Adelaide on Monday, investment in Africa's food security would bring economic benefits to Australia as well as fulfilling its moral obligations.
Millions are starving in the Horn of Africa while productivity problems confronting sub-Saharan Africa are threatening food security for poverty-stricken people across the continent.
The United States Cornell University's applied economics professor and 2001 World Food Prize laureate Per Pinstrup-Anderson says that for Australia, Africa is a much better investment than China in the long term.
"If you're looking at the next few years only, yes, working closely with China will bring a lot of exports and possibilities and it also means China is going to occupy a bit more of your land," he said.
"But imagine if you could help African governments improve their country at a 6-7 per cent annual rate. You would have an Africa that looks very similar to parts of South East Asia within the next 20 years.
"This means lot of purchasing power, lots of economic growth, and some of that purchasing power is going to be focused on importing goods and services from Australia."
Prof Pinstrup-Anderson said reducing hunger, poverty and inequality in sub-Saharan Africa would decrease the probability of conflict and acts of extremism.
"The terrorists are using extreme poverty as an argument for doing what they want to do," he said.
"That instability at a national level is going to transfer into international instability, so I think for stability reasons, economic reasons and humanitarian reasons, Australia should continue to focus on Africa."
Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research chief executive officer Nick Austin recently returned from Africa where he spoke to key partners for the Federal Government's Australian International Food Security Centre, a $33-million, four-year project launched in Canberra last year.
The project will bring together African and Australian scientists to improve food security and livelihoods for African smallholding farmers.
"Africa has a high concentration of poor people and we're seeing extreme events such as massive famine in the Horn of Africa. No developed nation can stand back and say 'well that's bad luck'," he said.
"We've got to be a part of the solution there."
Mr Austin said African agriculture could benefit from Australia's enormous mining presence in Africa by taking advantage of new roads and rail infrastructure to transport fertilisers, chemicals and seeds, and to get their produce to market.
*Full report in Stock Journal, February 16 issue, 2012.
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