A coalition of multilateral development banks and development partners has pledged over US$17B in financing to address rising hunger on the African continent, and to improve food security.These funds were pledged on the final day of a two-day high-level dialogue called Feeding Africa: leadership to scale up successful innovations. The African Development Bank and the UN’s International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) hosted the event in partnership with the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA) and the CGIAR System Organization on 29 and 30 April.Seventeen African heads of state signed on to the commitment to boost agricultural production by doubling current productivity levels through the scaling up of agro-technologies. This will include investing in access to markets, and promoting agricultural research and development.The various parties adopted a communiqué outlining these commitments at the end of the event.Of the overall amount pledged, more than US$10B came from The African Development Bank, which said it would invest US$1.57B on scaling up 10 selected priority commodities over the next five years. This will help countries achieve self-sufficiency. Another US$8.83B will go towards building strong value chains for these commodities over the next five years. This will include programs to create opportunities for young people – particularly women.African Development Bank President Dr. Akinwumi A. Adesina said: “Let us now create today, a stronger partnership: a partnership for greater scale; a partnership to take technologies and innovations to hundreds of millions of farmers.”The International Fund for Agricultural Development said it aimed to provide an additional US$1.5B to support national efforts to transform food and agricultural systems in Africa over the next three years. IFAD will also invest more in creating the pre-conditions for increased agricultural productivity. The organization is helping to develop a growing pipeline of investments to restore land, create jobs and build resilience to climate change in the Sahel region. This will contribute to the Green Great Wall objectives, and will create 10 million jobs in the region by 2030.

Source: Further Africa