Yellen visits farm to tout Africa’s ag potential
>> U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen traveled from a small farm on a rural red clay road to a ramen noodle manufacturing plant in Zambia’s bustling capitol of Lusaka on Tuesday to showcase Africa’s potential to help solve the world’s problems with food shortages.
Yellen, midway through a 10-day tour of Africa, devoted her day to highlighting the agricultural investment potential of underdeveloped African nations, especially as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has exacerbated worldwide hunger and the cost of food.
“As we tackle acute needs now, we must also take a longer view and scale up
investment in long-term food system resilience. Africa is a perfect example of these dual challenges,” Yellen said in Chongwe, a village an hour outside of Lusaka. She stood at her signature podium, surrounded
by lush green fields of corn and with chickens grazing nearby.
The continent’s potential is evident in one statistic: Africa has 60 percent of the world’s uncultivated arable land.
“We want to advance a future where Africa participates more fully in global food and fertilizer markets and supply chains,” Yellen said as farmers, mostly women wearing brightly colored wax cloth dresses, stood and listened.
They told Yellen stories of how they’ve sustained their communities — by sharing goats to mate to build a sustainable livestock supply and by developing collective savings groups and silos for grain.
Echinah Mfula, a Chongwe farmer and participant in the Twalumbu Savings Group, which helps its members pool money to buy livestock and food, said, “It’s been a challenge. It’s been a big challenge for us, but we are successful.”