Technical, Financial Partners pledge CFAF 18,135 billion for food sovereignty of African countries
Dakar, Senegal (PANA) - The technical and financial partners (TFPs) represented at the second Dakar Forum on Agriculture have pledged to provide Africa with US$30 billion, about CFAF 18,135 billion, for the implementation of national food sovereignty plans over the next five years, the African Development Bank (AfDB) President, Akinwumi Adesina, announced here on Friday.
He made the statement on the last day of the second edition of the Dakar Forum on Agriculture and Agribusiness held since Wednesday in the Senegalese capital.
It attracted several heads of state and government on the theme: "Feeding Africa: Food Sovereignty and Resilience".
"Development partners came to the Dakar 2 summit. They have listened and will act. They have promised to support, to the tune of 30 billion US dollars, the implementation of national pacts aimed at (...) developing agriculture for the next five years," said the AfDB President.
The technical and financial partners of African states also decided to work with the countries of the continent to help them achieve their objectives in agriculture, according to Adesina.
The forum, attended by some 30 heads of state and government, "is a call from Africa" which believes that "it is time for [it] to feed its people", Adesina said.
He welcomed the commitment of African heads of state to take concrete initiatives to implement national food sovereignty plans.
"This shows your ambition to feed Africa. You have shown your political will by [signing] national pacts and sharing ideas on what needs to be done to achieve the forum's objectives.
"We are working together to implement the national pacts" to "succeed in feeding Africa as well," the AfDB president acknowledged.
At the opening of the forum, the African Development Bank pledged to finance agricultural initiatives and food sovereignty policies of the continent's countries with US$10 billion (about CFA 6,045 billion) over the next few years.
-0- PANA-APS SK/MTN/ADL/ESF/AKS/JSG/BBA/RA 27Jan2023
