Annan: World Must Help African Nations Tackle Food Crisis

KOFI ANNAN: The green revolution bypassed Africa. And, of course, the African green revolution is also much more complicated than the Latin American or the Asian one, because in Latin America and Asia, you are focused on one crop, rice in Asia and corn in Latin America.

In Africa, you have about 12 or more crops that you need to deal with: cassava, yams, plantains, sorghum, millets. And these are crops that we haven't done much research on.

And now we are using scientists, African scientists, training them, and there are some already doing very serious work to be able to improve the seeds, so that they can get better used.

JUDY WOODRUFF: You speak about how the continent of Africa is probably hardest hit by this global food crisis. What do you see as the main causes of the food crisis?

KOFI ANNAN: I think there are many causes. First of all, you have the high oil prices, which has impact on transportation cost. It has an impact on cost of fertilizers. The cost of fertilizer in some countries has quadrupled in a year.

Some farmers are planting a quarter or half of their land because they can't afford to buy the fertilizer at a time when they need to increase production.

You also have the question of biofuel. I know there's a debate about this, but, obviously, if you're diverting corn, which can be used for human consumption...

JUDY WOODRUFF: Ethanol here in the U.S.?

KOFI ANNAN: ... ethanol to fuel, you cannot claim that it has no impact on the availability of food or food prices.

KOFI ANNAN: I think the ordinary American must know that there are people in other parts of the world who are starving, who go through daily hunger, and there's serious malnutrition around the world amongst children.

I think the average American should know that the world trading system is not fair. You take the area of agriculture. If U.S. farmers are getting huge subsidies, European farmers are getting huge subsidies and are competing on the global market with a farmer from Burkina Faso or Kenya, how do they compete?

I mean, take the issue of cotton. The U.S. cotton farmers here get lots of subsidies. The one in Burkina Faso gets nothing, but they're all trying to produce for the same international market. How do they compete?

JUDY WOODRUFF: The food conference, global food conference that occurred just last week, did it accomplish what you wanted to see accomplished?

KOFI ANNAN: I think it did one thing. It put the issue on the global agenda and made the leaders and the people realize we have a problem.

I don't know whether the conference did that or the strikes. You have strikes everywhere. You've had pasta strikes in Italy. You've had food strikes in Egypt, Indonesia. You have fuel strikes in almost three or four European countries today.

So the pressure from the people have really woken up the leaders. So I'm grateful that the issue is now front-and-center and nobody can get away from it.

What I don't want to see happen is for people to go home and think we've solved the problem if we are able to raise money to feed those who are hungry today. The problem is a structural one. We need to stick with the long term.

KOFI ANNAN: The situation in Zimbabwe is tragic. It is a country that had so much hope, a country that was a breadbasket of the region, and today is a basket case, with historic inflation rates that has not been seen anywhere.

They are going to have elections on the 27th of June. I pray and hope that those elections will be fair and clean. There are allegations of intimidation and violence.

What we need to do is to make sure that the elections are well-organized and that there are lots of observers to ensure that it is run competently. I think the people of Zimbabwe should be given the chance to speak out, and their votes and their voices must be respected.

Because of the way the first round was handled, there's great concern that the second round may go through the same sort of -- how should I put it -- manipulation.

I think it is important that the people of the country and the people in southern Africa work with the Zimbabweans to resolve this issue.

I mean, President Mugabe made a contribution, was a freedom fighter. He helped the country get its independence. But today the country is going through a very difficult period.

And most of the difficulties is laid firmly at his door. And after 28 years, I hope he'll be able to work with the people to assure the future, to assure reconciliation and healing, regardless of who wins this election in Zimbabwe on the 27th.

JUDY WOODRUFF: And, finally, if those elections coming up are not fair in the way they're held is there something that can be done?

KOFI ANNAN: What I would want to say on this is that, if the elections are not fair, the Africans and the African leaders should hold the government to account and whoever comes to power without a fair election will not have the legitimacy that he deserves as a leader, neither in Africa or within the international community.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Kofi Annan, your excellency, thank you very much. We appreciate your talking with us.