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Africa: Bank Raises Shilling 1.2 Trillion for Food Output
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The Citizen (Dar es Salaam)
6 May 2008
Posted to the web 6 May 2008
Orton Kiishweko
The African Development Bank (AfDB) has raised funding to agriculture by $1 billion (about Sh1.25 trillion) to solve critical food shortage in Africa.
AfDB president Donald Kaberuka announced in Tunis on Friday that bank would add $1 billion to its agriculture budget assistance Africa in a bid to address the food crisis.
In a statement to the media, Mr Kaberuka said the bank would also revisit some of its agricultural portfolio to the tune of $4.8 million
He urged leading cereals producing countries not to suspend exports because the practice would put in danger the lives 150 million people in Africa, especially, the sick and the elderly.
Mr Kaberuka added: 'We have consistently supported agriculture believing that the food crisis requires urgent and long-term measures.'
He said AfDB would find ways of assisting countries in difficulties by giving them special consideration for budget support.
The bank's current financial support to agriculture in African countries amounts to $3.8 billion a year.
In a bid to ease the food crisis, the bank recently approved the establishment of African fertilizer financing mechanism special fund to mobilise donor support to fund fertilizer production.
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He warned that the current post-harvest losses stand at a whooping 40 per cent, a development that need to be cut by 10 per cent to get an additional 5 million tonnes of cereals.
Mr Kaberuka commended the support offered by rich countries, saying the efforts will go a long way in mitigating the impact of the crisis on the continent's vulnerable population.
AfDB recently set up a taskforce to produce a "balance sheet" of the food situation in all regions in Africa to guide the bank's immediate and long-term action on food crisis.
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