DAKAR, Nov 2 (Reuters) - Africa needs more investment in farming to cope with soaring food prices due in part to growing biofuel production in the West, but it could profit from rising demand for alternative energy, an IMF official said on Friday.
The explosion of biofuels production from food crops, subsidised by some Western countries as a less environmentally damaging alternative to fossil fuels, has contributed to a surge in food prices with grains and other crops at record highs.
"The priorities for Africa are adapting to this new situation," Charles Collyns, deputy director of the International Monetary Fund research department, told Reuters.
"The reality is that food prices are going to be higher going forward than they have been in the past. This creates both problems and opportunities," he said.
Collyns was speaking after presenting the IMF's regional economic outlook to government officials and civil society representatives in Senegal's capital Dakar, several of whom expressed concern over rising food prices in Africa despite generally benign economic fundamentals.