Call to prioritise investments in food systems

A call to prioritise investments in food systems has been made as lockdowns declared by world leaders in response to the Covid-19 pandemic has worsened poverty, particularly among African people.

African Development Bank’s acting vice-president for agriculture, human and social development Wambui Gichuri said the pandemic has increased poverty in Africa and now was the time to consider giving priority to investing in food systems to deal with the crisis.

Gichuri said governments and development institutions should rethink investments in food security, healthy diets and building infrastructure to support the ways food is grown, processed, traded, delivered, sold and consumed.

“The African continent relies on more than $75 billion (about R1.241 trillion) of food imports. Africa imports essential food in significant amounts and this deficit has quadrupled in the past 15 years. But we are planting the seeds to reverse this trend,” Gichuri said.

He said the bank’s Feed Africa strategy, a Covid-focused initiative in conjunction with African governments and the private sector, was aimed at producing more and more nutritious food and building robust food systems.

It would culminate in developing resilience, sustainability and regional self-sufficiency in food systems, helping farmers cope with virus-related disruptions.

Through the bank’s Technology for African Agricultural Transformation, developers of food production technologies, seed companies, farmer groups, regional economic commissions and researchers were cooperating to more efficiently deliver certified seeds and young fish, or fingerlings, to 40 million farmers on the continent.

– ericn@citizen.co.za

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