On Thursday, October 22, at the "Feeding Africa" conference in Dakar, the African Development Bank (AfDB) and KfW in its role as Germany's development bank, announced a broad collaboration that aims to advance the agricultural transformation agenda across the African continent. The collaboration seeks to develop solutions that drive inclusive growth in Africa by expanding access to financial services in the agricultural sector.
AfDB actively promotes sustainable economic growth and poverty reduction in Africa. In service of its mission to support sustainable development on behalf of the German Government, KfW brings expertise in designing and scaling inclusive financial services solutions and infrastructure. Together they share the vision of agriculture as an opportunity for inclusive wealth creation in an environment that is public sector enabled and private sector led. AfDB and KfW will work with African Governments and the private sector to develop and deliver affordable agricultural finance and support solutions to the benefit of both producers and consumers, including the traditionally unbanked.
Specifically, the collaboration will seek to:
Bring successful agricultural finance solutions to scale across the continent.
Catalyze new sources of capital for agriculture, from the private sector and beyond.
Identify and pursue new financing solutions with an emphasis on rural population, youth and women.
Share knowledge across academic, policy and commercial sectors to create thought leadership on financial inclusion and economic development, in particular in African agriculture and rural environments.
"We at the African Development Bank have a clear vision and an ambitious agenda for agricultural transformation across Africa," said Akinwumi Adesina, President of the AfDB. "Partnerships with like-minded development finance institutions are instrumental to achieving our vision and agenda, starting with KfW."
Thomas Duve, Director at KfW, said, "We are impressed by President Adesina's leadership and vision, and are proud to be part in pursuing the bold aims of the agricultural transformation agenda. Both institutions see an urgent need for action, and we will jointly strive to deliver results as fast as possible. "
Organized by the AfDB and hosted by the Government of Senegal, the Feeding Africa conference brought together more than 500 participants, including Ministers of Economy, Finance and Agriculture; Governors of Central Banks; representatives of regional/ international organizations, civil society and private sector to adopt an action plan for African agricultural transformation.
