Africa has technology and innovation to avoid going hungry: Adesina, head of the African Development Bank, at Africa Agribusiness and Science Week | African Development Bank

Africa has the necessary partnerships and technologies to eradicate hunger, said Dr. Akinwumi A. Adesina, President of the African Development Bank.

What is needed is action, including robust funding, Adesina said Monday during the opening session of the 8^e Africa Agribusiness and Science Week (AASW) in Durban, South Africa.

“We need to bring together the best of science, technology and innovations to drive a more productive, efficient and competitive agricultural system,” Adesina told an audience of research and innovation stakeholders in agriculture and agribusiness in Africa.

Tea Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA) co-organized the event with the Government of South Africa, the African Union Commission (AUC), the African Development Bank and the Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research (CGIAR). Other partners are the UN IFAD and UNIDO and the European Commission.

AUC Commissioner for Rural Economy and Agriculture Ambassador Josefa Leonel Correia Sacko said the event could not have come at a better time as the world is in the midst of a hunger pandemic caused by successive factors including Covid-19 and climate change.

Africa needs to tap into its potential, including science, and be proactive rather than reacting to shocks, she said. She urged the continent to take advantage of its youthful population and immense natural capital. “Let’s unlock the potential we have… We need to feed Africans and we need to feed the world,” Sacko said.

FARA President Alioune Fall spoke about the interlocking relationship between climate change and agricultural production. “Climate change and its effect on the continent require new ways of doing things in almost all facets of our society,” Fall said. .”

Adesina said African food systems have the potential to release $1 trillion in value over the next seven years. “To achieve that, we need to strengthen and support the CGIAR with much more resources, ensure it operates in and delivers for Africa based on our priorities, and support regional research and development institutions such as FARA and the sub-regional agricultural research organizations,” he said.

African Development Bank initiatives to increase food security in Africa include the Feed Africa Summit, held in the Senegalese capital Dakar in January. It brought together 34 heads of state and government. “Working with development partners from around the world and the African Union Commission, private sector companies and global and national agricultural research centers, we have developed food and agricultural supply pacts for 41 countries,” said Adesina. He added that top partners have built on its success, mobilizing $72 billion to date to support the national treaties.

Adesina awarded the FARA Leadership Prizes for Advancing Agricultural Science, Technology and Innovation in Africa 2023 to Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Director General of the World Trade Organization; Ambassador Sacko; FARA’s Executive Director Dr. Yemi Akinbamijo; The Senegalese former Minister of Agriculture and Rural Infrastructure Papa Abdoulaye Seck and the president of the Afreximbank, Prof. Benedictus Oramah.

Adesina won the award in 2016.

The 8^e Africa Agribusiness and Science Week, the premier continental platform for agricultural and agribusiness research and innovation stakeholders in Africa, brings together 1,500 stakeholders every three years to track progress in research and innovation, inform share, forge business alliances and prioritize for joint action. The seventh AASW was held in Kigali, Rwanda in June 2016.