AfDB and IFAD establish new agreement to aid 40 million African farmers

African Development Bank (AfDB) and International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) have signed a new memorandum of understanding (MoU) to expand finance to 40 million farmers and quadruple their production, riding on the newfound enthusiasm to ramp up agricultural and agro investment.

The presidents of the two organizations, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina and Alvaro Lario, signed the letter of intent yesterday during the second Feed Africa Summit, which is now taking place in Dakar, Senegal. The document intends to increase financing for the organizations’ pan-African agricultural campaigns.

Following the event, both presidents pledged to take specific steps to increase the productivity of 40 million African farmers and enable them to produce 100 million metric tons of food, enough to feed 200 million people.

The idea comes as several African nations struggle to prevent starvation. According to estimates, 283 million Africans go to bed hungry every day, and four of the ten countries with rising food costs last year were African countries, according to a World Bank research. The country with the highest rate of food inflation was Zimbabwe.