
President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday in Dakar urged African leaders to demonstrate political will and re-commit themselves to transformation of agriculture in the continent.
In his goodwill message to the Feed Africa Summit of Heads of State and Government, the President called on his counterparts to embrace innovative policies that ensure the continent’s citizens eat what they produce as well as export the surplus.
President Buhari also welcomed the provision of $538.05 million by the African Development Bank, the Islamic Development Bank and the International Fund for Agricultural Development for the first phase of the Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zones (SAPZ) for Nigeria programme.
With rising inflation globally and the effects of the Russia-Ukraine conflict that have driven up food prices, especially for basic staples such as wheat and maize, the Nigerian leader listed measures that African leaders must take to change the status quo.
‘‘Feeding Africa is an imperative.
‘‘We must ensure that we feed ourselves today, tomorrow, and well into the future. The starting point is to raise agricultural productivity. This requires the access of farmers to quality farm inputs, especially improved seeds, and fertilizers and mechanization.
‘‘To succeed, we must strongly support farmers.
‘‘There is no doubt that we need to subsidize our farmers, but we must do so in ways that are transparent, remove rent seeking behavior and effectively deliver support to farmers.
‘‘The share of budget allocation to agriculture should be increased across Africa, especially for investments in critical public goods, such as research and development, infrastructure, especially roads, irrigation, and energy.
‘‘As leaders, let us decisively ensure that we meet the 10% allocation of our budgets to agriculture as agreed in the Malabo Declaration of the African Heads of State and Government.
‘‘We must reduce the rate of rural to urban migration through the development of rural areas,’’ he said.
President Buhari noted that the future of agriculture in Africa would depend on getting more youth into agriculture, which means making agriculture attractive for them.
the central banks.
‘‘Access to affordable finance is critical for the success of efforts to support smallholder farmers and commercial farmers. Commercial banks do not lend much to agriculture due to the perception of high risks.
‘‘Generally, less than 3% of total financing by commercial banks in Africa go into agriculture. We must therefore reduce the risks of lending faced by commercial banks. But we must go beyond commercial lending.
‘‘Where possible and countries can afford to, the central banks can also dedicate significant resources to complement lending from commercial banks.
‘‘Such dedicated financing windows from the central bank must be well monitored, to ensure that they reach the intended beneficiaries, must be transparent and must not crowd out the commercial lending sectors, or the private sector.”
President Buhari commended Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina, President of the African Development Bank for the vision to drive the Summit, together with the African Union Commission.
‘‘Dr. Adesina has continued to do an excellent job at the helm of the African Development Bank,’’ he said.