By Sulaimon Salau
The African Development Bank (AfDB) has lauded the Ogun State Agro-cargo Airport, to be commissioned before the end of the first quarter of 2023.
The President of the AfDB, Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina, who stated this during a visit to the Ogun State Governor, Dapo Abiodun, said that having a cargo airport in the state would facilitate the development of its agricultural value chain.
“The cargo airport is an excellent idea because when you produce agricultural commodities, you would not only store them, you should be able to process and transport them. And having a cargo airport would facilitate the development of the agricultural value chain in Ogun State. It is an excellent idea and I have always supported it from the start,” Adesina said.
Adesina said that AfDB has mobilised a $1.5b emergency food production facility to support food sufficiency in Africa, adding that about 20 million farmers would benefit from the project.
He said that the facility became imperative as a result of the ongoing war between Ukraine and Russia, which has seen prices of wheat and maize skyrocket.
Adesina added that the emergency food production facility would be supporting 34 countries, with 20 million farmers producing roughly 38 million metric tons of food valued at $12b.
He expressed confidence that Africa would not have a food crisis as a result of the war in Ukraine.
Adesina informed that a Feed Africa Summit in Dakar, Senegal, which had about 34 heads of state in attendance, including President Muhammadu Buhari, was able to mobilise $30b in support of food and agriculture delivery compact of countries in Africa.
“The African Development Bank has put in place immediately, a $1.5b Emergency Food Production Facility that is currently now supporting 34 countries, with 20 million farmers to produce roughly 38 million metric tons of food valued at $12b.
“So, I am pretty confident we are not going to have a food crisis as a result of the war in Ukraine, but, we cannot stop there, am just coming here having completed the Feed Africa Summit in Dakar, which I co-organised with the President of Senegal, Macky Sall,
“It was a hugely successful summit, and we were able to mobilise $30b in support of food and agriculture delivery compact of countries that will allow African countries to be totally self-sufficient in food. In three to five years, we should be done with feeding ourselves, we should be actually exporting food and several other things,” he said.
Source: The Guardian
