...[The] world's industrial powers turned to the private sector on Friday to help fight hunger and malnutrition for up to a billion people...U.S. President Barack Obama announced a new public-private partnership program involving some $3 billion in corporate pledges, seeking to spur [the G8]...to find new ways to help hardscrabble small-scale farmers in Africa - particularly women...The initiative includes a new partnership with...DuPont, Monsanto and Cargill, along with smaller companies, including almost 20 from Africa, which will commit some $3 billion for projects to help farmers in the developing world...Neil Watkins, policy director at...ActionAid, said the new initiatives might improve the lot of African women farmers...But he...voiced concern it may be difficult to link up the world's giant agribusiness companies with some of its poorest farm laborers..."Corporate investment is not a silver bullet for food security in Africa" [he said]... [also refers to Syngenta, Vodafone, Yara International, Agco Corp]