The second Africa food summit in Senegal ended on Friday, with development partners agreeing to commit $30 billion to back the continent’s resolve to boost agricultural productivity and become a breadbasket for the world.
Among the development partners are the African Development Bank which plans to contribute $10 billion over five years, and the Islamic Development Bank, which intends to provide $5 billion.
The Dakar 2 Summit—under the theme ‘Feed Africa: food sovereignty and resilience’—adopted a Declaration on the implementation of the Summit’s resolution, to be submitted to the African Union.
Organized by the Senegalese government and the African Development Bank, the Summit rallied dozens of dignitaries, including 34 heads of state and government, 70 government ministers, and development partners, to work tirelessly on compacts that would transform agriculture across Africa. The President of Ireland Michael D Higgins attended all the three days of the summit.
Addressing the closing plenary, African Development Bank Group President Dr Akinwumi Adesina said the continent and its partners are determined to see results and that implementation is critical to boosting food production and feeding Africa.
“The message was clear: we will work together to strongly support the implementation of the Food and Agriculture Delivery Compacts at country levels,” Adesina said.
In his closing remarks, Senegalese Prime Minister Amadou Ba called the summit “a resounding success.”
“Agriculture creates jobs and promotes wealth and health,” he said and called on all citizens of Africa to come together and agree on a joint agenda steered by Africans for Africans.
