The African Development Bank (AfDB) has announced plans to invest US$24bn to support the implementation of the continent’s agricultural transformation agenda
According to a statement released by AfDB, the bank will also leverage additional investments through equity, quasi equity, debt and risk instruments to catalyse investments into the sector.
Feed Africa, a strategy for agricultural transformation on the continent, is estimated to have a total investment of US$315-400bn over the next 10 years, with annual returns of US$85bn when fully funded. The strategy aims to set Africa’s agricultural sector into a path of competitive and inclusive agribusiness sector for the creation of wealth and improving lives of citizens.
According to the statement, AfDB has approved the strategy, which aims to reverse the situation of a continent that spends US$35.4bn on food imports annually despite being home to 65 per cent of the world’s undeveloped arable land, the statement added.
According to the bank’s figures, around 70 per cent of Africa’s population and 80 per cent of its poor who live in rural areas depend on agriculture and non-farm rural enterprises for their livelihoods.
The strategy will focus on scaling up agriculture as a business through value addition, led by the private sector and enabled by the public sector, and using innovative financing mechanism. It aims to end hunger and rural poverty in Africa in the next decade.
