AFDB: Africa’s Food and Agribusiness Sector to Hit $1tn by 2030

The African Development Bank (AfDB) has stated that Africa’s food and agribusiness sector is estimated to hit $1 trillion by 2030.

This, the AfDB said, would present significant opportunity for businesses to invest in the sector and for smallholder farmers to meet the growing demand for food on the continent.

The AfDB President, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, stated this at the World Food Prize Foundation’s Norman E Borlaug dialogue in Des Moines, Iowa, United States of America.

Akinwumi said that the several world leaders are actively bolstering food production and food security in Africa.

The move, according to him, is apt considering the fact that global population is expected to reach nine billion, which he said would create a pressing need for Africa to increase its agricultural productivity to meet the rising demands for food on the continent.

He pointed out that the continent, which is home to 65 per cent of the world’s remaining uncultivated arable land, ironically is importing most of its food, adding that African leaders are intent on ensuring that their countries are self-sufficient in food and become food exporters.

Adesina explained how 34 African leaders endorsed country food and agriculture delivery compacts that produced action- and outcome-driven plans to ensure food security and unlock the continent’s full agricultural potential within five years, maintaining that this is in line with the core of the Bank’s Feed

Africa strategy, which it launched in 2016.

Since then, he added, the strategy has supported more than 250 million people, who have benefitted from improved agriculture technologies.