The President of African Development Bank, AfDB, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina has unveiled plans to invest about $24 billion over the next 10 years to help drive the agricultural transformation inAfrica.
The AfDB Boss who spoke at the Seventh African Agricultural Science Week and FARA General Assembly, in Kigali, Rwanda, said this represents a 400 per cent increase in financing to the agricultural sector by the bank.
Adesina lamented that Africa spends $35 billion on importing food. This, according to him, is projected to grow to $110 billion by 2025.
He noted: “Africa is importing what it should be producing, creating poverty within Africa and exporting jobs outside of Africa. Scarce foreign exchange is used to buy food. Lacking ability to feed itself, Africa becomes vulnerable, dependent on market forces to feed its burgeoning population.”
“Any shock to global food production will have direct price transmission into Africa, especially into the rural areas, where the percentage of net buyers of food is high, despite being the zones to produce food to feed their countries.”
According to him, Africa needs to invest more in science and technology to become more efficient and competitive in agriculture and to diversify rapidly its economies.
