The President, African Development Bank (AfDB), Dr Akinwumi Adesina, says the bank is set to deliver certified wheat and other staple crops seeds to 20 million farmers.
Adesina said this in a document titled, “Averting an African Food Crisis: The African Food Production Facility” and obtained on Monday, August 8, 2022, in Abuja.
He said the initiative, which is part of activities being undertaken by the bank, would tackle food crisis in African countries including Nigeria.
The president said the delivery of seeds and increased access to agricultural fertilisers would be done through the bank’s African Emergency Food Production Facility.
Adesina said that, within the next two years, the facility would allow farmers to produce 38 million additional tonnes of food.
He said that part of the plan was a 30 per cent increment in local production worth an estimated $12 billion.
He also said that it would facilitate better global investment in Africa’s agricultural sector.
Adesina said that the facility would also support enhanced governance and policy reforms.
“Half a dozen more programmes are expected to get underway by September as more governments apply to the facility,’’ he said.
According to him, food aid cannot feed Africa because Africa does not need bowls in hand.
The president said that the African Emergency Food Production Facility had benefited from stakeholder consultations.
He said the price of wheat had soared in Africa by more than 45 per cent since the war in Ukraine began.
Adesina also said fertiliser prices had gone up by 300 per cent while the continent faced a fertilizer shortage of two million metric tonnes.
Adesina further said it would create a platform to advocate critical policy reforms to solve the structural issues that impede farmers from receiving modern inputs.
He said it included strengthening national institutions overseeing input markets.
According to him, the facility had a structure for working with multilateral development partners.
This he said would ensure rapid alignment and implementation, enhanced reach, and effective impact.
The president also said it would increase technical preparedness and responsiveness.
He said it included short, medium, and long-term measures to address both the urgent food crisis and long-term sustainability and resilience of Africa’s food systems.
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