By Modupe Gbadeyanka
The sum of $24 billion has been set aside by the African Development Bank (AfDB) for investment over the next 10 years to accelerate the realisation of the food sufficiency agenda.
Speaking on Tuesday, the bank’s President, Mr Akinwumi Adesina, explained that the investment would be through its ‘Feed Africa Strategy’.
According to him, this would require paying attention to the implementation of plans to achieve the green revolution in Africa.
Mr Adesina said the AfDB was leading a campaign to unlock the continent’s food and agriculture market, projected to hit $1 trillion by 2030.
Speaking in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, ahead of the 7th African Green Revolution Forum (AGRF), the AfDB chief noted that the programme will focus on ‘Accelerating Africa’s Path to Prosperity: Growing Economies and Jobs through Agriculture.’
“We must hurry. Africa’s time to become the global powerhouse for food and agriculture is now. We are already late,” he said.
The event is scheduled to hold between September 4 and 8, 2017 and it is hosted by the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), an African-led institution focused on putting farmers at the centre of the continent’s growing economies, committed to investing in Africa’s agricultural transformation.
At the 2016 edition, Mr Adesina said many of Africa’s steadfast champions of agriculture had pledged over $30 billion in investments to increase production, income, and employment for smallholder farmers and local African agriculture businesses over the next 10 years.
