Dr Akinwumi Adesina President of the African Development bank (AfDB) group, says there is no need for Africa to beg other countries for food. He noted that there is no dignity for Africa, the continent known for its rich natural resources, youthful population and occupying about 20 percent of earth’s total land area to depend on others for food sovereignty.
He said the time had come for the continent to bring together, the needed support and resources including agricultural technologies, to produce enough food to ensure that Africa was food sufficient.
Dr Adesina, who said these during the opening of the 2022 Annual Meetings of AfDB group, in Accra, indicated that, ‘’Africa does not need bowls in hand; Africa needs seeds in the ground and mechanical harvesters to harvest bountiful food produced locally. Africa must feed itself with pride.’’
‘’We all agreed it’s time to support Africa to produce its food. It’s time to have food sovereignty. Food aid cannot feed Africa. The bank is leading on securing Africa’s food supplies in the face of climate change,’’ he said.
The AfDB President stated that it’s feed Africa strategy, launched six years ago, was achieving ‘’incredible success’’, as it had already benefited over 76 million farmers with access to improved agricultural technologies.
Additionally, its flagship program, Technologies for African Agricultural Transformation (TAAT) has delivered climate smart seeds to 12 million farmers in 27 countries in two years.
Also, the Bank has developed the Africa Emergency Food production Plan, a $1.5 billion strategy to tackle the looming food crisis in Africa from Russia-Ukraine war through the production of food rapidly.
The plan is expected to produce 38 million metric tonnes of food, including wheat, maize, rice, and soybeans, with a total value of $12 billion additional food production.