Dakar 2 summit: partnership to deliver technologies to farmers to feed Africa – says Adesina | African Development Bank

Africa’s push for food sovereignty and resilience depends on investment and partnerships, Akinwumi Adesina, president of the African Development Bank Group, said Thursday at the Dakar 2 Food Summit, a food summit in Senegal.

Speak at a panel discussion Building multilateral partnership and financing support, Dr. Adesina outlined how the bank used technology to boost agricultural productivity in several African countries.

“Today we have the technologies to feed Africa; We must put them in the hands of the farmers. The technologies work and we need to deliver them at scale,” Adesina told the panel, moderated by Daouda Sembene, CEO of Africatalyst, a global development consultancy.

The panel discussion was part of the three-day Dakar 2 Food Summit opened by Senegalese President Macky Sall on Wednesday. His government is co-hosting the summit along with the African Development Bank Group.

Dr. Adesina remembered his five priority objectives, including Feed Africa, when he first took over the bank. “Since then, more than 250 million people across the continent have benefited from the bank’s investments, projects and programs, primarily driven by technology,” he said.

Adesina highlighted African Agricultural Transformation (TAAT) technologies, which he says have significantly increased wheat yields in Ethiopia and Sudan. The Bank is rolling out special agro-industrial processing zones designed to transform the African agricultural sector.

“We will build on this to boost production and feed Africa. We will not work as individual institutions, but as partners to achieve rapid results,” he said.

The Director General of the Arab Bank for Economic Development, Dr. Sidi Ould Tah, said multilateral development organizations should work as development partners with governments, civil society, farmers and sister organizations to feed Africa.

“This is a new departure to Africa; It’s a new momentum and we believe our common action will help Africa feed itself,” Tah said.

For his part, Serge Ekue, the president of the West African Development Bank, said his organization plans to invest $2 billion over five years to support agriculture in Africa.

The Dakar 2 summit – under the theme Feed Africa: food sovereignty and resilience—takes place amid supply chain disruptions due to the Covid-19 pandemic, climate change and the Russian invasion of Ukraine. More than a thousand delegates and dignitaries attended. They included 34 Heads of State and Government, the President of Ireland Michael D. Higgins, more than 70 ministers, farmers, private sector representatives and development partners.