President Obama announced a new public-private effort today, along with 49 companies committing to invest over $3B in Africa’s agricultural sector as part of the G8’s New Alliance for Food and Nutrition Security initiative.

“History teaches us that one of the most effective ways to pull people and entire nations out of poverty is to invest in their agriculture,”

President Obama emphasized.

African governments that are committed to agricultural development and food security have agreed to take the lead, Obama said, building on their own plans by making tough reforms and attracting investment. Obama said that it was “critical to focus on the urgent challenges that confronts some 1 billion men, women and children around the world–the injustice of chronic hunger; the need for long-term food security, as reported by Agri-Pulse.

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