Global Food Crisis: World Bank And AFDB Advice African Governments

Mar 11, 2023 Samuel Cover Story 0

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African countries have been charged to prepare for the global food crisis following the Unabated Russia-Ukraine war and flood disaster ravaging different parts of the world.

The International Fund for Agricultural Development IFAD says that Africa faces a fertilizer shortage of some 2 million metric tones, estimated at 2 billion dollars, creating a productivity deficit of twenty-fifty percent (20-50%) in agriculture. Rising food prices disproportionately affect African families as food consumes some 40% of household income, compared to less than 20% in advanced economies.

At the May 2022 Annual Meeting of the African Development Bank in Accra, President Addo Kufi-Addo called for concerted efforts by African states, IFAD, and other Global institutions to promote the establishment of a food security facility in the African continent. He expressed delight on AFDB’s approval of funding 1.5 billion dollars African Emerging food production plan to support countries in producing food

rapidly as well as delivering climate-resilient agricultural technologies to 20 million farmers.

The President of the African Development Bank AFDB, Akinmuni Adesina, speaking at the Atlantic Council’s African center recently, wrote that the ramifications of the Russia-Ukraine war spread far beyond Ukraine to other parts of the world inflicting Africa. He explained that Russia and Ukraine supply 30 percent of global wheat exports, the price of which has surged by almost 50 percent globally while fertilizer rices had tripled, and energy prices has increased, all fueling inflation.

AFDB President warned that the tripling costs of fertilizer, rising energy cost coupled with rising cost of food baskets, could worsen in African in the month ahead, He observed that 90 percent of Russia’s 4 billion dollars exports to Africa, in 2020 was made up of wheat while 48 percent of Ukraine’s near 3 billion dollars exports to the continent was made up wheat and 31 percent of maize. He continued that to fend-off

food crisis, Africa should rapidly expand it food production.

Stressing that AFDB is already active in mitigating the effects of a food crisis through. A African food Crisis Response and Emergency facility to provide African countries with the resources needed to raise local food production and procure fertilizer, he emphasized the need for Africa to solve our challenges without depending on others.

However, the World Bank has announced that Nigeria and other African Countries in the Sub-Sahara Africa will suffer increased poverty, higher debt, food insecurity, lower per capita income and other economic crisis in 2023.

It says that Africa’s 3 biggest economics – Nigeria, Angola and South Africa, will record growth rate of 2.9 percent, 2.8 percent and 2.4 percent respectively. This is against Nigeria’s project 3.75 per growth rate that year in terms of Gross Domestic Products (GDP).

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