Resilience of Africa’s food system depends on creating strong backward-forward linkages: MoPD Minister

Addis Ababa, January 26, 2023 (FBC) – The resilience of the continent’s food system depends heavily on its ability to create strong backward-forward linkages and creation of enough decent jobs for the youth, said Fitsum Aseffa, the Ethiopian Minister of Planning and Development.

Organized by the African Development Bank Group (AfDB), Feed Africa Summit is being held in Dakar, Senegal from January 25, on Agriculture and Agribusiness (Dakar II)

An action-oriented summit, Feed Africa: Food Sovereignty and Resilience, aims to unleash Africa’s food production potential.

The FDRE Minister of Planning and Development, Fitsum Aseffa, and her delegation is participating in the summit in Dakar, Senegal.

The Minister has shared Ethiopia’s experience regarding its efforts to ensure food security and economic reforms to the Africa Food Summit Dakar II.

“The resilience of our food system depends heavily on our ability to create strong backward-forward linkages”, she said, emphasizing that “it can be achieved when we are able to create enough decent jobs for our youth.”

She also stressed that Africa shouldn’t keep selling its agricultural products raw. “We should be able to process them and create jobs for our youth”, she said.

The Minister tabled a presentation to the leaders of various countries and development partner organizations regarding Ethiopia’s efforts in the agriculture sector.

During the first implementation of the African Development Bank program, Ethiopia’s endeavours to ensure food security in wheat production and the results it achieved were also presented and discussed.

Furthermore, it was stated that a second round of national food and agriculture supply program called COMFAC will be implemented for five years from 2023 to 2027.

At the Feed Africa Summit, the President of AfDB, Akinwumi A. Adesina, stated that “it is time for Africa’s food sovereignty and resilience. While gains have been made in recent times the continent remains over-dependent on food imports. We import over 100 million metric tons of food, valued at $75B annually.”

The former Ethiopian Prime Minister and the Chairperson of the Board of Sustainably Growing Africa’s Food Systems (AGRA), Hailemariam Desalegn, for his part, said; “The Ukraine-Russia crisis may have caused serious disruptions in our efforts to achieve food self-sufficiency, but it has presented great opportunities before us and the urgency of implementing them.“

“Our discussions reflect Africa’s commitment to transforming our food and agriculture through the Food & Agriculture Delivery Compact to accelerate investments for economic transformation first in our countries and then on the continent”, he added.

Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) confirmed that the Feed Africa Summit (Dakar II) brought together more than 1,500 people, including heads of state, government ministers of economy, finance, agriculture and related sectors, as well as private sector stakeholders, multilateral organizations, non-governmental organizations, leading academics and scientists.

It was also stated that the summit is expected to mobilize political commitment, government resources, development partners, and private sector financing towards achieving food security in Africa in the face of climate change.