ADB, FAO  Pledge to Raise $100M to Boost Africa’s Agricultural Sector

The African Development Bank (ADB) and the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) have pledged to raise $100-million over five years to support and promote investment in Africa’s agricultural sector.

This is coming after ADB’s president Akinwumi Adesina and FAO’s Director-General José Graziano da Silva signed an agreement in Rome, Italy, on Monday, August, 27.

The agreement will help enhance the quality and impact of investment in food security, nutrition, social protection, agriculture, forestry, fisheries and rural development.

The collaborative programme will be created through an initial financial contribution of up to $15-million by the two institutions.

In a statement yesterday, the ADB stated that through the partnership the two organisations “envisage” a collaborative programme that will among others, see more effective bank-financed investment operations, increased public-private-partnership investments, a better investment climate and portfolio performance, and advocacy and joint resources mobilisation.

The ADB added that FAO’s technical assistance will cover areas that include: scaling up value chain innovations, youth in agriculture and agribusiness, agricultural statistics, climate-smart agriculture, promotion of responsible private investments, resilience and risk management.

Da Siva said leveraging investments in agriculture — including from the private sector — is key to solving hunger and poverty in Africa. He added that this will also ensure that enough rural jobs are created for the continent’s growing population.

Also, Adesina speaking after signing the agreement said the agreement signals the two organisations joint commitment to accelerate the delivery of high-quality programmes and increased investment for public-private partnerships in Africa’s agriculture sector.

“This will help us achieve the vision of making agriculture a business, as enshrined in the Bank’s Feed Africa strategy,” he added.

The Bank’s Feed Africa strategy, launched in 2015, aims to invest $24-billion into African agriculture over a 10-year period. This, the ADB states will improve agricultural policies, markets, infrastructure and institutions to ensure that agricultural value chains are well developed and that improved technologies are made available to reach several million farmers.