On the 20th of January, Gordon Conway gave evidence for the International Development Committee inquiry on jobs and livelihoods. The inquiry is examining the main factors in increasing jobs and improving the livelihoods of those in the developing world in a sustainable and inclusive way. Gordon stated that agriculture is crucial to reducing poverty in rural areas and to increasing rural economies

Gordon started his evidence with the following statement;

“Africa is the fastest growing continent on the planet, and so we have an enormous increase in people over the next 50 or 100 years.  In the long term, Africa could easily become the substitute for China as a low‑cost economic developing country with industrialisation.  In the meantime, we certainly need to build food security, partly to feed all those workers who are going to go into the industrial sector, but also because there is a growing demand for more food, more varied food and more livestock food, for example.  We have at the moment Africa importing something of the order of $40 billion worth of food each year.  It is an enormous sum that they spend on buying in food, and over 50% is cereals and livestock products.”

To view the webcast of the event, click on the image below. Alternatively, click here for the full transcript of the evidence.

Gordon Conway gives evidence at the IDC inquiry for jobs and livelihoods