The African Development Bank (AfDB) is “well on track” to meet its goal of $25 billion worth of food, according to AfDB President Akinwumi Adesina.
Currently, the financial organization supports programs in over 30 African nations that have contributed almost $12 billion so far.
“As far as I’m concerned, we shouldn’t be talking about food security in Africa more than five years from now. There’s no reason for it,” Adesina said. “We have the technology and the financing to do it at scale.”
AfDB’s efforts are threatened, however, as global grain prices have risen since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February last year and the failure of the Black Sea grain deal.
The deal was negotiated in July 2022 between Turkey, the UN, and Russia in order to allow Ukraine to continue exporting grain through its southern ports during the invasion. While Ukraine could continue to export commercial food and fertilizer from three key ports in the Black Sea, the sanctions against Russian exports would be minimized.
According to the World Food Program, 750,000 tons of Ukrainian grain were shipped to low-income countries such as Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Somalia, and Sudan.
Russia began slowing down inspections in October 2022, feeling their part of the deal was not being honored. In March 2023, food exports per ton decreased by 29%, and by May, the numbers were down by 66%, reports the Guardian.
Russia ended the deal in July.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s office announced plans to set up “grain hubs” in Kenya and other parts of Africa to tackle food insecurity after meeting with South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa at a UN Assembly in September.
Ramaphonsa said he and Zelensky discussed “the way forward on the peace initiative” and talked about the revival of the grain deal. Ukraine is currently trying to find alternative routes to supply world markets with grain.
“Several ships with grain have already successfully passed through these routes despite the difficult situation,” Zelensky told The Odessa Journal.
Moving forward, the AfDB has been working on strengthening its relationship with the government of South Korea in order to steer the country towards rice production.
Adesina met with Hwang-keun Chung, Korea’s Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, in Seoul on Sept. 11.
The African Development Bank recently launched its Regional West Africa Rice Development (REWARD) program in 16 West African countries. Under this initiative, a million farmers will work to produce 53 million metric tons of rice in five years.
Chung reported that Korea was working with eight African countries to produce 10,000 metric tons of rice, roughly enough to feed 30 million people. He intends to invite more African countries to participate in the K-Ricebelt initiative.
With the REWARD and K-Ricebelt programs working together, Adesina feels confident that Africa will reach food sufficiency in the next few years. While increasing productivity is important to reduce reliance on food imports, he also wants to ensure the quality of locally produced rice meets import standards and prioritize infrastructure development in order to attract food and agricultural businesses.
Adesina believes the International Monetary Fund board will channel $100 billion in funding to vulnerable countries via multilateral banks before governments gather in November for global climate talks in Dubai.
“There is absolutely no reason why Africa is a net food-importing region, spending over $35 billion importing food. Africa must feed itself and Africa must become a global powerhouse in food and agriculture,” Adesina said.
Article written by Alexis Jones.