By Panagri Media Correspondent, January 19, 2023, In a bid to increase food production in Africa to curb the ever increasing deaths caused by drought and famine, African leaders and development partners will meet in Dakar for a three day Food summit from January 25 to chat plans of unlocking Africa’s potential of food production.
The African Union Chairperson and Senegal President Macky Sall will play host to this year’s Food Summit with African Development Bank joining the event as the co-hosts.
Under the Theme: Feed Africa: Food Sovereignty and Resilience, The event seeks to improve the agricultural potential of Africa farming nations while also improving food security and nutrition, boosting international trade, leveraging the continent’s huge agricultural resources, expanding market share, and production and processing value addition.
Africa is the most drought stricken continent in the World with 850 million people living with hunger.
In a press statement sent to newsroom, The Head of African Development Dr. Akinwumi A. Adesina says that the second Summit dubbed Dakar II will be a playing ground where leaders will mobilize political commitment, development partner and private sector investment, establish much needed policies and strategically drive actions to deliver at scale.
“This landmark event will be a turning point towards food sovereignty and resilience for the entire continent.” He Said. “This is the time to invest in Africa’s future. The continent has more than 60% of the world’s remaining arable land, and millions of Africans are productive in the agriculture sector. With the removal of barriers to agricultural development aided by new investments, it is estimated that Africa’s agricultural output could increase from $280 billion per year to $1 trillion by 2030.”
The summit is at the heart of the Bank Group’s Feed Africa Strategy, one of the institution’s High 5 priority areas to support African countries to significantly increase agricultural growth.
The summit is a follow-up to the 2015 inaugural edition, during which the Feed Africa Strategy for Agricultural Transformation (2016-2025) in Africa, was proposed.
During the summit, heads of state and government will convene sessions to develop transformational country-specific food and agriculture delivery compacts.
Development partners and the private sector will also play significant roles during sessions and the overall summit. African countries are also expected to make measurable political commitments to implement policies designed to eliminate extreme poverty, hunger and malnutrition in Africa.
According to Dr. Beth Dunford, the Vice President for Agriculture at the African Development Bank,The country compacts will provide targeted roadmaps toward self-sufficiency, and provide interventions that will make Africa’s agriculture sector more business-oriented and commercially viable.
“The Summit will be the one-stop-shop for African countries pursuing more and better investments that are public sector enabled, and private sector-led.” Beth Dunford Added.
The summit will take place at the Abdou Diouf International Conference Center in Diamniadio, 26 kilometers from Senegal’s capital city Dakar.
The International Fund for Agricultural Development, the Islamic Development Bank, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa, and several bilateral partners are among international supporters of the summit.
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We are waiting for that meeting, to increase trade in africa and agroprocessing value addition
Can you you make it zoom meeting so that we can fellow the meeting