The African Development Bank will commit US$10 billion over the next five years to boost food production on the continent and help end its reliance on imports. The projected population of Africa is to rise to 2 billion by 2050, and they must be fed. It is pertinent that we must take decisive actions now to secure their food supplies, stated Akinwumi Adesina, the president of AfDB at an agriculture-investment conference in Diamniadio, Senegal.
The African Development Bank will commit US$10 billion over the next five years to boost food production on the continent and help end its reliance on imports. The projected population of Africa is to rise to 2 billion by 2050, and they must be fed. It is pertinent that we must take decisive actions now to secure their food supplies, stated Akinwumi Adesina, the president of AfDB at an agriculture-investment conference in Diamniadio, Senegal.
Governments on the continent are seeking to pitch strategies to increase agricultural output at the meeting to secure funding from development banks, the US, European Union and UK, and private partners. Africa currently imports more than 100 million metric tons of cereals worth US$75 billion a year, according to the AfDB. Its food and agriculture market has the potential to reach US$1 trillion by 2030, Adesina said.
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Rising food prices and disruption to food supplies due to the Covid-19 pandemic showed Africa’s reliance on imports of food staples and agricultural inputs. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine also upended global grain markets and caused a shortage of fertilizer. Climate change causing devastating floods in part of the continent and an ongoing drought in the Horn of Africa have resulted in the continent experiencing its worst food crisis with 280 million people suffering from hunger.
