{"id":76755,"date":"2023-01-26T16:48:27","date_gmt":"2023-01-26T16:48:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africannewspaper.net\/2023\/01\/26\/afdb-to-make-africa-breadbasket-investing-10-billion-new-business-ethiopia\/"},"modified":"2023-01-26T16:48:48","modified_gmt":"2023-01-26T16:48:48","slug":"afdb-to-make-africa-breadbasket-investing-10-billion-new-business-ethiopia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africannewspaper.net\/2023\/01\/26\/afdb-to-make-africa-breadbasket-investing-10-billion-new-business-ethiopia\/","title":{"rendered":"AfDB to make Africa breadbasket investing $10 billion \u2013 New Business Ethiopia"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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The African Development Bank Group, will commit $10 billion over the next five years to boost Africa\u2019s efforts to end hunger and become a primary food provider for itself and the rest of the world.
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Dr Akinwumi Adesina was the Bank Group President. She made this announcement Wednesday at Dakar 2 Africa Food Summit. It took place in Diamniadio (east of Dakar), the Senegalese capital. Adesina urged more than 34 heads and 70 ministers of state, the private sector, farmers and development partners to come together to create compacts that would bring about food and agricultural transformation across Africa. He encouraged them to take collective action to unlock the continent\u2019s agricultural potential to become a global breadbasket.<\/p>\n

The Dakar 2 summit\u2014under the theme Feed Africa: food sovereignty and resilience\u2014takes place amid supply chain disruptions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, climate change, Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine. More than 1000 delegates and dignitaries attended the summit, including the President Michael D. Higgins of Ireland.<\/p>\n

The Government of Senegal and the African Development Bank Group are co-hosting the summit, eight years after the inaugural Dakar 1 summit where the newly elected Adesina announced the Bank\u2019s Feed Africa strategy.<\/p>\n

Opening the summit, President Sall\u2014who is also the African Union chairperson\u2014said the time had come for the continent to feed itself by adding value and stepping up the use of technology.<\/p>\n

Sall said: \u201cFrom the farm to the plate, we need full food sovereignty, and we must increase land under cultivation and market access to enhance cross-border trade.\u201d<\/p>\n

Moussa Faki Mahmat, Chairperson of the African Union Commission, stated that the Dakar summit was timely. It would provide innovative solutions for Africa to reduce its dependence on imports.<\/p>\n

\u201cFood sovereignty should be our new weapon of freedom,\u201d Mahamat told the gathering. Mahamat urged the gathering to join existing structures like Agenda 2063 and African Continental Free Trade Area for sustainable transformation.<\/p>\n

Mahamat commended the African Development Bank for rolling out transformative initiatives, including a $1.5 billion emergency food production facility in 2022 to help African countries avert a potential food crisis following Russia\u2019s war in Ukraine.<\/p>\n

The President of Kenya, William Ruto, said, \u201cIt is a shame that 60 years after independence, we are gathered to talk about feeding ourselves. We can and we must do better.\u201dThe African Development Bank Group chief said: \u201cToday over 283 million Africans go to bed hungry every day. This is unacceptable. No mother should ever have to struggle with rumbling of the stomach of a hungry child.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe must raise the bar. We must increase our ambition. We must be bold and say: It is time to feed Africa. The moment is right at the right time. Feed Africa; we must,\u201d said Adesina.<\/p>\n

The bank head urged the leaders to turn political will into decisive actions to deliver food security for Africa, \u201cWe must strongly support farmers, especially smallholder farmers, majority of whom are women, and get more young people into agriculture. And we must take agriculture as a business, not a development activity, and boost support to the private sector.\u201d<\/p>\n

President Higgins of Ireland said with Africa\u2019s young population accounting for about 20% of the world\u2019s young people, the continent had great potential. He stated that the rest of the globe would be inspired by it in the future.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet us make this century Africa\u2019s Century, one which will see the continent become free from hunger,\u201d Higgins said.<\/p>\n

Antonio Guterres, United Nations Secretary-General, acknowledged that Africa was facing challenges from climate change as well as food insecurity. The price of fertilizers had risen due to the Russia-Ukraine War, making it more difficult to obtain them. He pledged the UN\u2019s support to help Africa become a global food powerhouse.<\/p>\n

President Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria stated that countries should offer more support to farmers, allocate a portion of the national budget to agriculture and encourage women and youth to start farming.<\/p>\n

Buhari said: \u201cFeeding Africa is imperative. We must ensure we feed ourselves today, tomorrow, and well into the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nigeria’s president praised Dr. Adesina, the African Development Bank, and for establishing special agroindustrial processing zones throughout the continent, including in Nigeria.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cSpecial agro-industrial processing zones are game changers for the structural development of the agriculture sectors. They will help us generate wealth, develop integrated infrastructure around special agro-processing zones, and add value.\u201d<\/p>\n

The summit will see private sector players commit to national food delivery compacts and other structural reforms during the three-day summit.<\/p>\n

Finance ministers and central bank governors are expected to devise financing arrangements to implement the food- and agriculture delivery contracts, together with agriculture ministers, private sector actors, commercial banks, financial institution and multilateral partners.