More than $10 billion worth of food production is at risk in Nigeria, and other African countries. This is according to Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, the President of the African Development Bank (AfDB).
Speaking at a three-day official visit to Washington DC, United States (US), where he made this disclosure, the AfDB chief stated that fertiliser shortage on the continent, which was borne out of the ongoing war between Ukraine and Russia, put food production at great risk.
“A fertilizer crisis borne out of the Russian war in Ukraine could put more than $10 billion of food production at risk,” Adesina was quoted as saying in a statement.
Adesina, who had several bilateral engagements with stakeholders on African development in the course of his visit, therefore, seek a more flexible and substantial replenishment of the African Development Fund.
“Meeting with the African Union’s Group of 15 Finance Ministers, Adesina outlined the continent’s immediate challenges and the solutions that were being applied to tackle them successfully. Top of Adesina’s list was a plan for massive food production in the face of a looming global food crisis caused by the Russian war in Ukraine, and the need for a more flexible and substantial replenishment of the African Development Fund.
“The ministers agreed to a joint communique on financing Africa’s economic resilience in turbulent times. They called for a substantial replenishment of the African Development Fund and for the Fund to be allowed to use its equity to leverage more resources from international capital markets to meet the rapidly growing needs of countries in Africa,” the statement read further.
How Ukraine and Russia war is affecting food security
First, it is pertinent to note that COVID-19 and other factors have already driven up food prices. While word economies are struggling to recover from the pandemic, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine compounds the ongoing issue further, as global markets suffered disruption, a development that threatened grain supplies, natural gas, and fertiliser.
BizWatch Nigeria understands that the shortage in grain supplies, natural gas, and fertiliser, which was occasioned by the war, all have negative impacts on producers as they enter a new planting season. Consequently, low-income net-food importing countries, many of which have seen an increase in malnourishment rates over the past few years in the face of pandemic disruptions, will experience already-high food inflation.
