High food prices may help African agriculture

BERLIN (Reuters) - Higher global food prices could make farms more productive in Africa, where economic growth should accelerate this year, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) said on Tuesday.

"Higher prices in agriculture are actually a positive signal," said OECD economist Denise Wolter as the group presented its African Economic Outlook for 2008 in Berlin.

Over the short term, developed nations should provide aid to Africa to counter bottlenecks in food production, she said.

"But the higher prices are also providing incentives (for farmers) to produce more locally," said Wolter.

The OECD forecast that growth in Africa would accelerate to 5.9 percent this year from 5.7 percent in 2007.