By Adedapo Adesanya
The African Development Bank (AfDB) has said that agricultural businesses on the continent will be worth $1 trillion in the next 10 years.
This was made known by the president of the bank, Mr Akinwumi Adesina, while receiving an honorary doctorate award bestowed upon him by the Federal University of Agriculture (FUNAAB) in Abeokuta, Nigeria.
According to the former Nigerian minister, this could be achieved due to the need to feed Africa’s population that is estimated to hit 2.5 billion by 2050 from the current 1.2 billion.
“The size of food and agriculture in Africa will rise to $1 trillion by 2030. The population of Africa, now at 1.2 billion, will double to 2.5 billion by 2050. They all must eat and only through food and agribusiness can this be achieved,” he said.
He said efforts are also in place to ensure that this is achieved, adding that the AfDB will invest $25 billion over a 10-year period to transform the continent’s agriculture sector.
”What Africa does with food will determine the future of food, given that 65 percent of the arable land left to feed the world is here.
“Agriculture is the most important profession and business in the world,” he added.
Speaking on Nigeria’s continued commitment to agriculture, Mr Adesina said that the AfDB will continue working to transform Nigeria’s agriculture sector.
“I am delighted to see so many of our young people engaged in agriculture arising from the Youth Employment in Agriculture initiative launched when I was minister to get the youth into agriculture as a business.
”From their innovations in the use of drones, food processing, packaging, transport and logistics and marketing, they are already unlocking the opportunities in agriculture,” he said.
Laying a challenge to FUNAAB, he urged agricultural universities across the country to optimize their role in linking research, innovations and technologies to farmers and also to the food and agriculture industry.
“Africa’s youth must become leaders to help feed our world,” he said.
