The Board of Directors of the African Development Bank Group has approved 24 fast-track programmes to assist Africa in reducing inflation and rising food costs brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic, climate change, and Russia’s war in Ukraine. The target population is 20 million smallholder farmers in Africa. The goal is to stop relying on food imports from Ukraine and Russia.
The facility will expand access to agricultural fertilisers and offer certified seeds to 20 million smallholder farmers throughout Africa.
Additionally, it will help with policy and governance change, which is anticipated to stimulate more investment in Africa’s agricultural sector.
Over the next two years, 38 million additional tonnes of food will be able to be produced by African farmers thanks to the African Emergency Food Production Facility. A total of 11 million tonnes of wheat, 18 million tonnes of maize, 6 million tones of rice, and 2.5 million tonnes of soybeans. This food is estimated to be worth $12 billion.
“This is a landmark week for the African Development Bank and the African Emergency Food Production Facility,” said Dr. Beth Dunford, the Bank’s Vice President for Agriculture, Human and Social Development. “These programs will deliver much-needed climate-adapted seeds, access to affordable fertilizers and usher in policy reforms to enable the agriculture sector to supply immediate, medium and long-term solutions to challenges faced in regional member countries.”
The facility focuses on staple crops, which are mostly imported by several African countries from Russia and the Ukraine. However, the continent now has a food crisis of at least 30 million tonnes as a result of the Russia-Ukraine conflict.