Dev’t Partners Pledge $30bln to Boost Food Production in Africa
The African Development Bank (AfDB) on Mondays said development partners agreed to commit $30 billion to back the continent’s resolve to boost agricultural productivity and become a breadbasket for the world.
The agreement was reached at the end of the three-day Africa food summit in the Senegalese capital Dakar on Friday.
Among the partners, AfDB announced its plan to invest $10 billion over five years, while the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) said it would provide $5 billion.
The Summit – under the theme ‘Feed Africa: food sovereignty and resilience’ – adopted a Declaration on the implementation of the Summit’s resolution, to be submitted to the African Union.
The Summit rallied dozens of dignitaries, including 34 heads of state and government, 70 government ministers, and development partners, that pledged to “work tirelessly on compacts that would transform agriculture across Africa”.
“The message was clear: we will work together to strongly support the implementation of the Food and Agriculture Delivery Compacts at country levels,” AfDB Group’s President Akinwumi Adesina said.
He said the leaders committed to setting up presidential high-level advisory councils to oversee the implementation of the Compacts, to be chaired by the presidents themselves in their respective countries.
10% increase in public expenditure
“With strong collective determination and resolve, we will work in coordination and partnerships to help countries to deliver success,” he affirmed.
In the Dakar Declaration, the leaders agreed to allocate at least 10% of public expenditure to increase funding for agriculture.
They also resolved to deploy robust production packages to boost productivity and increase resilience to achieve food security and self-sufficiency.
“It’s a paradox that Africa is the largest continent but also the most dependent,” Senegalese Prime Minister Amadou Ba said on Friday.
“Starting now, we must do away with dependency. Africa should consume what it produces and produce what it consumes.”
Apart from AfDB, and Islamic Bank, the Netherlands, Canada, and Germany also made commitments to support the Feed Africa agenda, according to AfDB.
