Likewise, a surplus in U.S. foreign trade would sow the seeds of a reversal in the future.

FORBES: We Need Demand, Not Protectionism

Partly, it is because African leaders and foreign donors have been almost equally indifferent to smallholder farmers and simple improvements to soil and seeds.

ECONOMIST: Africa's population

The new administration in Seoul also wants to help improve agriculture in the North by supplying seeds, fertiliser and specialists, says Lim Dong Won, the president's senior secretary for foreign policy and security.

ECONOMIST: North Korea��s dreadful spring