- AfDB’s $25 billion food security goal progressing well, with $12 billion worth of food already produced.
- AfDB President Akinwumi Adesina aims to eliminate food insecurity in Africa within five years, citing technology and financing capabilities.
- Climate challenges, global grain market disruptions, and nutrition crises underscore the urgency of AfDB’s efforts to enhance food security in Africa.
The $25 billion goal of the African Development Bank (AfDB) is “well on track,” according to AfDB President Akinwumi Adesina, whose organization supports programs in over 30 African nations that have contributed to the production of almost $12 billion worth of food.
“As far as I’m concerned, we shouldn’t be talking about food security in Africa more than five years from now. There’s no reason for it,” the AfDB president disclosed to the American news agency, Reuters. “We have the technology and the financing to do it at scale,” he added.
According to the report following the news agency’s discussion with the AfDB president, “Russia’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, one of the world’s top grain exporters, sent tremors through global grain markets, threatening food supplies for some of the most fragile nations, including many in Africa.”
The development of the El Nio weather pattern and the failure of a deal to move grain from Ukraine via the Black Sea have worsened the world’s food security problems.
Adesina brought up the expansion of special agro-industrial processing zones, which in Nigeria alone might increase from covering eight states to 35 after a recent request, during her remarks on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly sessions in New York. These are rural regions where infrastructure development is being prioritized in order to attract food and agricultural businesses.
“Twenty-seven more states in Nigeria made a request to us to continue to support them in this particular area,” the AfDB president said.
According to the AfDB, 216 million children in Africa are affected by undernutrition and stunting, and over half of all child fatalities on the continent are caused by inadequate nutrition. The economic cost of poor nutrition is estimated to be 11% of Africa’s GDP.
Before governments gather in late November for international climate talks in Dubai, Adesina said he expected the International Monetary Fund board to push proposals to channel $100 billion in funding to vulnerable nations through multilateral development banks.
