Prime Minister Edouard Ngirente has arrived in Dakar, Senegal where he joins world leaders for discussions centered around unlocking Africa’s food producing potential. Senegalese President Macky Sall, chairperson of the AU, will host the three-day food summit, with the African Development Bank as co-host. ALSO READ: Presidential summit pushes for urgent action to improve Africa’s food systems The summit, under the theme “Feed Africa: Food Sovereignty and Resilience,” among others aims to position the continent to become a breadbasket to the world. This, organizers said, is particularly practical given that Africa has more than 60 per cent of the world’s remaining arable land, despite being home to a third of the 850 million people living with hunger, across the globe. ALSO READ: AGRF calls for $200bn funding for resilient food systems in Africa The gathering is also expected to showcase programmes already contributing to African food sovereignty and resilience. This includes AfDB’s Technologies for African Agricultural Transformation (TAAT) platform, which delivers heat-tolerant wheat, drought-tolerant maize, and high-yield rice seeds to 11 million African farmers in 21 countries. According to Dr Martin Fregene, director for Agriculture and Agro-Industry at AfDB, TAAT will produce 100 million metric tons of additional food to feed 200 million people. ALSO READ: Africa mulls innovations to reduce reliance on food import “We know what works in Africa. Taking agricultural technology programmes like TAAT to scale does more than boost agricultural outputs. It increases wealth, creates jobs and opens our markets up to regional and international trade. It is critical to support these efforts. Africa stands to gain – the world stands to gain – from such a concerted effort,” he said. For Akinwumi Adesina, AfDB group president, the meeting is an opportune moment to invest in Africa’s food production. “The continent has more than 60 per cent 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 a year to $1 trillion by 2030.”
