The President of IFAD, Alvaro Lario, and the President of the African Development Bank, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, sign a letter of intent in support of the pan-African Mission 1 for 200 (M1-200) – a joint initiative created to reduce Africa’s food import dependency and build sustainable, inclusive and climate-adapted food systems.
The African Development Bank (AfDB) and the UN’s International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) have teamed up to mobilize investments to help 40 million African farmers boost production amid one of the worst food crises on the continent.
Last week on the sidelines of the Africa Food Summit in Dakar, Senegal, the two organizations signed a letter of intent in support of an initiative dubbed Mission 1 for 200 (M1-200) to facilitate the production of 100 million metric tons of food for 200 million people in Africa.
The initiative will also channel funds to value addition and policy change while helping food systems and farmers adapt to climate change and reduce agriculture’s negative environmental impact.
“Africa’s agribusiness sector is projected to output US$1 trillion by 2030 and presents a sound business opportunity for investors. Strategic investments will boost agricultural productivity, build food sovereignty and pave the way for more equitable distribution and access to food,” said IFAD President Alvaro Lario in a statement.
President Lario said his organization can “directly or indirectly mobilize much larger volumes of finance from different sources than our size would suggest.”
AfDB’s President Akinwumi Adesina said in a statement that the initiative will foster innovative agricultural ventures and tap into co-financing opportunities through collaboration with other development partners.
Global shocks such as the war in Ukraine, the COVID-19 pandemic and climatic extremes have negatively impacted Africa’s food security. The continent currently has the highest hunger rates in the world – one person out of five suffers from hunger – and a total of 278 million people are food insecure, according to the latest State of Food Insecurity report issued by the UN.