Dr Akinwumi Akin Adesina, the President of the African Development Bank (AfDB) Group, has stated that there is no need for Africa to beg other countries for food.

According to the President of the African Development Bank, there is no dignity for Africa, which is a 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.

As such, Dr. Adesina indicated that the time has come for the continent to bring together, the needed support and resources including agricultural technologies, to produce enough to ensure that Africa is food sufficient.

“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. There is no dignity in begging for food.

“We all agreed it is time to support Africa to produce its food. It is time to have food sovereignty. Food aid cannot feed Africa.”
Dr Akinwumi Akin Adesina

Dr. Adesina made these comments during the ongoing 2022 Annual Meetings of the AfDB Group, in Accra.

The President of AfDB Group noted that the African Development Bank is playing a pivotal role in ensuring that the continent is food sufficient. He thus, said, “The Bank is leading on securing Africa’s food supplies in the face of climate change”.

Feed Africa Strategy

The AfDB President revealed that its Feed Africa strategy, which was launched six years ago, is achieving incredible success, as it has already benefitted over 76 million farmers with access to improved agricultural technologies.

Additionally, Dr. Adesina mentioned that its flagship programme, Technologies for African Agricultural Transformation (TAAT) has also delivered climate smart seeds to 12 million farmers in 27 countries in two years.

Dr. Adesina, moreover, asserted that the Bank has developed the Africa Emergency Food Production Plan, which is a $1.5 billion strategy to tackle the looming food crisis in Africa from the Russian-Ukraine war through the production of food rapidly. Meanwhile, he averred that 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.

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, on his part, said, “We must light-up and empower Africa to enable her feed herself, integrate and industrialize. It is time we worked to address the structural barriers to our development.”

According to President Akufo-Addo, this is because the rising food prices on the continent disproportionately affect African families, as food consumes some 40 percent of household income, compared to less than 20 percent in advanced economies.

Aside this, the President of Ghana said, “We must also deal with ‘tax-dodging’ and illegitimate commercial transactions by multinationals, which account for sixty percent of the US$88 billion of illicit financial flows from the continent annually, and other relationships which inhibit our development.”

President Akufo-Addo emphasised that the confluence of rising challenges and expectations require that together, Africa acts with sustained conviction. “Our support will be critical to building the Africa we want.”