The African Development Bank (AfDB) projects that the continent’s food and agriculture market will be valued at $1 trillion by 2030.
In her keynote address at the second interactive session with youths and women in agriculture Monday in Abuja, the Vice President, Regional Development, Integration and Business Delivery Complex, AfDB, Marie-Laure Akin-Olugbade, said in a bid to achieve the projection, the Bank rolled out various initiatives.
Part of the initiatives includes the Technologies for African Agricultural Transformation (TAAT), among several others.
Analysts say Africa is home to 65% of the world’s remaining arable land that is enough to feed 9.5 billion people that make up the world population.
She said, “This is why we launched transformative initiatives like our $25 billion Technologies for African Agricultural Transformation (TAAT) program to revolutionize African agriculture. Through this initiative, we are providing cutting-edge agricultural technologies to over 40 million farmers in our quest to make Africa food secure- by 2030.
“Here in Nigeria, we delivered 6,750 tons of certified seeds of heat-tolerant wheat varieties to 118,000 farmers in the 2023/2024 planting season, which led to the planting of 120,000 Ha of wheat. In all, 277,000 Ha of wheat was planted, and Nigeria harvested over 600,000 tons of wheat grain this year, the largest in the country’s history.
And we are not stopping there. Our Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zones (SAPZs) initiative is bringing economic infrastructure to rural areas of high agricultural potential to attract investments from private agro-industrialists and entrepreneurs, enhancing productivity, and transforming lives in rural areas.
“With $4.5 billion mobilized for 28 zones across 11 countries, we are not just growing crops – we are cultivating entire value chains, creating jobs, and stimulating rural economies.
“Here in Nigeria, together with the Islamic Development Bank and the International Fund for Agricultural Development, we provided $520 million to support the establishment of Special Agricultural Processing Zones in 7 States and the FCT, which will allow private agribusinesses to establish industries that process and add value to agricultural commodities.
In his opening remarks, Director General West Africa Region of the Bank, Mr. Lamin Barrow said the Bank’s cumulative financing approvals to Nigeria have reached $ 10.9 billion.
“Our portfolio currently stands at $ 4.9 billion supporting x projects in the public and private sectors,” he also said.
With a massive youthful population, Mr. Barrow asserted that they provide a substantial reservoir of talent for innovation, creativity, and boundless energy that can drive the revitalisation of the agriculture sector.
