A coalition of banks and multilateral partners has pledged more than $17 billion in multi-year funding to improve food security in Africa, it was announced Friday.
The funding announcement came at the end of a two-day online event on “Feeding Africa” organized by the African Development Bank (AfDB) and the United Nations International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).
For their part, 17 African heads of state, who attended the meeting, committed to doubling the productivity levels of their agriculture through technology, investment in market access, and research development.
The commitments were made public through a joint communiqué at the end of the meeting.
Of the total pledges, $10.4 billion comes from the ADB, chaired by Akinwumi Adesina.
The bank plans to invest $1.57 billion in the development of 10 selected priority products over the next five years to help countries achieve food self-sufficiency.
Another $8.83 billion will be spent “on building strong value chains” for these commodities over the next five years, the statement said.
For its part, IFAD plans to provide an additional $1.5 billion to Africa to support national efforts to transform food and agricultural systems over the next three years.
“We cannot let millions of people suffer from hunger and poverty when solutions exist. We must invest today – not tomorrow – in technology, research and innovation to make agriculture more productive, more attractive to young people, more resilient to climate change and a decent source of income for rural people,” said Gilbert Houngbo, president of Fida, as quoted by Agence France-Presse.
“We also need to invest in innovative storage infrastructure,” he added.
For its part, the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa has committed funding of up to 1.5 billion for the agricultural sector over the 2020-2024 period.
The Islamic Development Bank Group has pledged to allocate $3.5 billion to the development of Africa’s agricultural sector over the next three years.
For its part, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation announced an investment of $652 million over the next three years to support agricultural research and development initiatives in Africa.
