At the G8 summit in Camp David, U.S. President Obama announced a ‘New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition’ which aims to help 50 million Africans escape poverty and hunger within 10 years through an increase in agricultural growth. The plan is for the programme to start in Tanzania, Ethiopia and Ghana and then expand to other African countries. However, the backbone of the initiative is made up of $3 billion of private sector investment, across the entire agricultural chain of production. In total 45 multinational companies plan to invest, most of which are based outside Africa, including agribusiness giants Monsanto, Cargill and DuPont. Swiss agrochemical company Syngenta is to invest over $500 million to develop seeds for local farmers. Several NGOs welcomed the commitment to fight hunger but were sceptical about dependence on the private sector: “Smallholder farmers need the freedom to pursue their own growing strategies, not take overly-prescriptive tips on farming from G8 leaders, or one size fits all technologies from far away CEOs”, said Lamine Ndiaye from Oxfam. The new alliance builds on pledges made at L’Aquila in 2009, where G8 nations committed $22 billion to food security and agricultural investment over three years - only part of the money has been disbursed.