Production moves to centre stage in Africa food crisis

Development partners have committed $30bn to boost food production in Africa over the next five years.

The continent is facing its worst food crisis ever, with more than one in five Africans — a record 278 million people — facing hunger, the president of the African Development Bank said on Friday at the close of a summit on food security.

A major theme of the threeday summit in the Senegalese capital Dakar was that African countries need to boost their food production capacity rather than relying on imports that have left them vulnerable to price spikes and shortages.

The meeting brought together African leaders, development banks and international partners including the US, the EU and UK to mobilise funding and political commitment.

Around 40 countries from across the continent presented agricultural development plans to the bank and other partners, who pledged support for the plans over the next five years to enable the countries to increase food production.

“We’re going to invest in markets, we are going to invest in infrastructure, energy, we’re going to invest in roads, we’re going to invest in storage, all the things that you need to make agriculture work,” ADB president Akinwumi Adesina said.

“We must make sure agriculture allows people to feed themselves. That’s the core of what we are doing here. It’s embarrassing that Africa is unable to feed itself,” Adesina said.

Heavy debt burdens from the Covid-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine, which raised prices of fuel, grain and edible oils, have added to longterm causes of food insecurity such as climate change and conflict.

The Ukraine war also disrupted the supply of fertiliser to the continent.