The president of the African Development Bank announced at the conclusion of a meeting on food security on the continent that development partners have pledged $30 billion to increase food production in Africa over the next five years.
“We’re going to invest in markets, we are going to invest in infrastructure, energy, we’re going to invest in roads, we’re going to invest in storage, all the things that you need to make agriculture work,” the President said.
He mentioned this at the three-day summit in the Senegalese capital, Dakar which brought together African leaders, development banks and international partners including the United States, the European Union and Britain to mobilize funding and political commitment.
“We must make sure that agriculture allows people to feed themselves. That’s the core of what we are doing here. It’s embarrassing that Africa is not able to feed itself,” Adesina stated.
According to experts, long-term causes of food insecurity including climate change and violence have been exacerbated by the heavy debt loads brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine, which increased the price of fuel, grain, and edible oils.
According to Adesina, the bank established an agreement with fertilizer producers on the continent last year and received their guarantees that Africa would not be left out of the fertilizer supply chain. These producers included Nigeria’s Dangote and Indorama as well as Morocco’s OCP.
“I think we will not have a fertilizer crisis in Africa. The challenge we’re going to have is affordability problem,” he added.
Comments are closed.