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Mr Kofi Annan, former United Nations Secretary General has launched the 2014 Africa Progress Panel Report in London. The report finds that African countries could reduce poverty and inequality by boosting agriculture, which affects two thirds of the continent's population. Victoria Williams of Hill+Knowlton Strategies made the copy of the report and Mr Annan�s speech at the launch available to the Ghana News Agency on Friday. The report noted that Africa has the potential to feed itself and other regions too; but first the plunder of Africa's timber and fisheries resources must stop. Mr Annan said: �We have all, I�m sure, been watching Africa�s impressive growth recently with fascination. The average incomes have risen by one third and exports are booming and foreign investments are on the rise. This progress is laudable however but there are disturbing increases in inequality and poverty which we should all be concerned about.� �We are all losing money through natural resource plunder and financial mismanagement. Africans are short-changed on money transfers from abroad. The continent loses an estimated $ 1.85 billion a year because money transfer operators are imposing excessive charges.� �And in Africa�s coastal waters, illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing has reached epidemic proportions. This plunder destroys entire coastal communities when they lose opportunities to catch, process and trade. Commercial trawlers that operate under flags of convenience and unload in ports that do not record their catch.� According to the report, Africa�s rich natural resources offer a unique opportunity for a breakthrough in improving the lives of Africa�s citizens, but too often these resources are plundered by corrupt officials and foreign investors. It said rising inequality is also blocking Africa from seizing that opportunity, the report shows. The Africa Progress Report 2014 report, dubbed �Grain, Fish, Money: Financing Africa�s green and blue revolutions�, calls on Africa�s political leaders to take concrete measures now to reduce inequality by investing in agriculture. It also demands international action to end what it describes as the plunder of Africa�s timber and fisheries. The report calls for a �uniquely African green revolution� that adapts the lessons provided by Asia to African conditions. Africa currently imports $ 35 billion worth of food because local agriculture is dogged by low productivity, chronic underinvestment, and regional protectionism. It said increased investment in infrastructure and research could dramatically raise the region�s yields and the incomes of farmers; meanwhile, eliminating the barriers that restrict trade within Africa could open up new markets. The report said while critical of African governments, the Africa Progress Report 2014 also challenges the international community to support the region�s development efforts. It highlights fisheries and logging as two areas in which strengthened multilateral rules are needed to combat the plunder of natural resources. Illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing has reached epidemic proportions in Africa�s coastal waters. According to the report, West Africa is conservatively estimated to lose $ 1.3 billion annually. It said beyond the financial cost this plunder destroys fishing communities who lose critical opportunities to fish, process and trade. The report observed that another $ 17 billion was lost through illicit logging activities. Mr Annan is the chairman of the 10-member Africa Progress Panel advocates at the highest levels for equitable and sustainable development in Africa. The Panel releases its flagship publication, the Africa Progress Report, every year in May.