More than $17 billion has been pledged by a coalition of development banks and partners, including the African Development Bank and the UN International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), to fight rising hunger and improve food security in Africa.

The announcement was made on 30 April during a high-level forum on ‘Nutrition Africa: Leadership to Scale Up Successful Innovation’ organised by the African Development Bank and IFAD in partnership with the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA) and the CGIAR System Organization.

The coalition’s commitment includes a commitment to boost agricultural production by doubling current levels of productivity by scaling up agricultural technology, investing in market access and promoting agricultural research and development.

The African Development Bank has agreed to pledge more than $10 billion, including $1.57 billion that will be used to boost 10 selected priority commodities over the next five years in the hope of helping African countries achieve self-sufficiency. The remaining $8.83 billion will go towards building strong value chains for these commodities over the next five years and will include programmes aimed at creating opportunities for youth, especially women.

“We commend African leaders for their commitment to increasing agricultural productivity and improving food security for millions of Africans,”

said Gilbert F. Hungbo, President of IFAD.

“By modernising African agriculture, smallholder farmers will be in a better position to provide more affordable food to consumers and create decent livelihoods for the millions of young Africans engaged in food processing, storage and marketing,”

said Gilbert F. Hungbo, President of IFAD.