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President Obama: So just
very quickly for the press
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who is here, one of the
signature projects that
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we've been initiating is
something called
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Feed the Future.
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And the goal is to
drastically increase the
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productivity of small holder
farmers all throughout
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Africa, because what we know
is that a huge percentage of
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Africans are still
getting their income
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from agriculture.
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And most of them are very
small plots, and not a lot
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of technology, not a lot of
inputs, but with just a few
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smart interventions, a
little bit of help, they can
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make huge improvements
in their overall yields.
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So I don't know if everybody
was able to hear, but one of
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our farmers who is part of
this program, increased her
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yields threefold.
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So this used to be the
corn that she was able to
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produce, and this is the
corn she's producing now.
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With three times the yields,
not only did she get enough
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income to build a new house
and get some nice clothes,
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she also was able to buy a
cow, which in turn obviously
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gives her additional
resources to support her family.
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She's now able to send
her children to school.
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And what Feed the Future is
doing is not just helping
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the farmer to increase their
yield, now what we're also
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able to do is to then
connect the small farmers to
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factories like this one, so
that they have a market and
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they're able to sell their
products for a fair price.
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In turn, this factory is
taking corn, soy, and other
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foodstuffs and able to
package them into nutritious
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low-cost meals that are
actually then supplemented
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with vitamins and are
enhancing the nutrition of
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low income peoples
all across Ethiopia.
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So you know, by some smart
interventions, what we're
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able to do is not only
increase the incomes of
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millions of people all
across Africa, but we're
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also able to you know,
create new markets and food
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processing alongside the
foodstuffs themselves, and
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that helps to grow the
economy as a whole.
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We've been talking a lot
about how Ethiopia has been
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seeing significant growth,
one of the fastest-growing
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economies in the world.
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A lot of that is because of
outstanding women like this,
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who are out there in -- when
they triple their income,
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that's good for
the entire country.
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So it's so nice to meet you.
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Female Speaker: [speaking
foreign language]
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Male Speaker: [speaking
foreign language]
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Female Speaker: [speaking
foreign language]
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Male Speaker: I'm
glad that we met.
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President Obama: I'm
glad that we met, too.
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We need a good
picture, come on.
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Pete?
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And then, come, come.
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We've got to get our
translator and our whole
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team in here.
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All right.
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So just to give you a sense, so far about seven million
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farmers have been impacted by Feed the Future so far,
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and we're going to continue to increase that in the years
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to come.
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And we've gotten terrific cooperation from governments
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all across Africa.
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It's one of the things I'll be talking about at the
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African Union today.
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All right?
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Thanks, guys.
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President Obama: So that's
another important point
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about the work that we're
doing with Feed the Future,
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is we're also getting
companies, some of the big
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international food
processors, to make
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commitments to partner with
local food processing so
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that we can start
building capacity.
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Historically, part of the
problem is that even if you
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have food that's grown here,
the processing is then done
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someplace else, it's higher
up on the value chain and
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you don't get the kind of
integrated food industries
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locally that can be more
affordable for people and
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can create jobs and
industries here.
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And part of our goal is not
just to provide food to
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countries that may have food
scarcity, but to continually
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build up their capacity
across the board.
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And so having strong
corporate partners alongside
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local businesses can really
make a big difference.
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Audience Member: Is there enough
money for this?
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President Obama: We always
want more, and we budgeted more.
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But what we're able to do is
to leverage the dollars that
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we've got alongside efforts
from other countries and
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from the private sector.
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And so every taxpayer
dollar -- every U.S.
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taxpayer that we're putting
in, we're leveraging a bunch
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of other money.
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Of course, the needs still
outstrip what we're able to
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provide, and hopefully, by
having built models that we
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know succeed, we can
accelerate this even faster.
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But this has been one of
the most -- there have been
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questions before about
what are some signature
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initiatives that really
make a difference.
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This is making a difference
in very concrete ways.
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And the goal here, as is
true with Power Africa and
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all the initiatives that
we're putting forward, is to
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make sure that we are not
in the business of just
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donating, but we're in
the business of creating
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entrepreneurs, opportunity,
and capacity locally, so
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that over time, Africa -- we
want Ethiopia not only to be
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able to feed itself, we want
eventually Ethiopia to be a
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food exporter as well.
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Audience Member: (inaudible)
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President Obama: Did you
guys catch that, though?
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You want to speak?
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Female Speaker: Okay.
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So we --
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President Obama: You don't
have to go through the whole
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thing, but just
quick summary.
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Female Speaker: So
we believe in women
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empowerment, especially at
Faffa, because we believe
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that women are the best
candidates to know the real
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needs of mothers and
children, so we try to
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incorporate them at
all stages of the
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decision-making process,
because we value their
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opinions and their advice on
how to -- starting from the
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very top to all the
way to the bottom.
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President Obama: And what
percentage of your employees
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did you say are --
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Female Speaker: Thirty
percent of our employees are
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female, and 30 percent of
those female employees have
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been working with us
for over 30 years.
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President Obama: Huh?
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Excellent.
