Nigeria recently hosted the African Primates of the Anglican Church at a retreat in Abuja, where discussions focused on the continent’s food security issues amid heightened calls for reforms in the financial architecture. The forum, themed “Food Security and Financial Sustainability in Africa: The Role of the Church,” brought together clergymen under the umbrella of the Council of Anglican Provinces of Africa (CAPA), representing more than 40 million Anglicans across the continent.

The convention featured the President of the African Development Bank Group (AfDB), Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, who once again emphasized the importance of boosting food security on the continent.

Mr. Adesina cautioned against Nigeria’s recent policy decision. On July 10, Nigeria’s Minister for Agriculture, Abubakar Kyari, announced that the Federal Government would suspend duties, tariffs, and taxes on the importation of maize, husked brown rice, wheat, and cowpeas through the country’s land and sea borders for 150 days. Mr. Adesina opined that this decision risks undermining Nigeria’s agriculture sector.

“Nigeria’s recently announced policy to open its borders for massive food imports, just to tackle short-term food price hikes, is depressing. Nigeria cannot rely on the importation of food to stabilize prices. Nigeria should be producing more food to stabilize food prices while creating jobs and reducing foreign exchange spending, which will further help stabilize the Naira,” said Mr. Adesina.

He stressed that a nation dependent on others for food is only nominally independent and underscored the need for Nigeria to feed itself with pride, avoiding becoming a food-import-dependent nation.

Noting that Africa accounts for nearly a third of the more than 780 million people worldwide who are hungry, Dr. Adesina highlighted that agriculture is critical for the diversification of economies and the transformation of rural areas, where over 70 percent of Africa’s population lives. “It is clear that unless we transform agriculture, Africa cannot eliminate poverty,” he insisted.

Adesina pointed out that Africa has 65 percent of the world’s uncultivated arable land, sufficient to feed 9.5 billion people by 2050. Therefore, what Africa does with agriculture will determine the future of global food security. “Essentially, food is money. The size of the food and agriculture market in Africa will reach $1 trillion by 2030,” he added.

Transformational Strides

Adesina briefed the Primates on the Bank’s $25 billion program to transform agriculture by providing high-performing agricultural technologies to 40 million farmers and making Africa food self-sufficient by 2030.

He shared the Bank’s successes in helping member countries tackle the negative effects of climate change through financial investments and its flagship Technologies for African Agricultural Transformation (TAAT) program.

According to Dr. Adesina, TAAT has helped Ethiopia become a net exporter of wheat within five years and significantly increased Sudan’s wheat production. It has also supported countries in Eastern and Southern Africa in continuing food production despite prolonged droughts.

For Nigeria, Adesina stated, “Together with the Islamic Development Bank and the International Fund for Agricultural Development, we have provided $520 million to support the establishment of Special Agricultural Processing Zones, which will allow private agribusinesses to establish industries that process and add value to agricultural commodities.”

Additionally, the Bank provided $134 million to Nigeria for emergency food production to help drive down food price inflation by significantly boosting the local production of wheat and cassava under the National Agricultural Growth Scheme.

Adesina urged the Nigerian government to leverage the Bank’s investments and support for African farmers, demonstrating greater determination and commitment to achieving food self-sufficiency and incentivizing private-sector agribusinesses.

To support Africa’s ambitions to move up the global agricultural value chains, the African Development Bank Group and its partners are supporting the development of 28 Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zones (SAPZs) in 11 countries, with $4.5 billion mobilized.

Speaking on behalf of the Chairman of the Council of Anglican Provinces of Africa and Bishop of Northern Zambia, the Most Reverend Albert Chama, the Archbishop of the Anglican Church of Kenya, the Most Reverend Dr. Jackson Ole Sapit, called for greater cooperation between the Bank Group and the Anglican Church.

“The African mind must be at the center of solving African problems. Suppose the African Development Bank mobilizes resources for the African continent, and the Church also mobilizes resources for holistic transformation. In that case, we can achieve a lot working together – and make a difference,” Ole Sapit said.

The Church as a Change Agent

Proposing solutions for agriculture in Africa, Adesina said the world desperately needs “visionary and passionate leaders who are strategic solution providers and transformational change makers.”

This includes, he said, public advocacy for robust government policies to end hunger and malnutrition, complemented by church-led food banks and other social protection programs for the poor and needy; investing in commercial farms, especially in rural areas; advocacy on issues of climate change; supporting and encouraging young Africans to engage in agricultural entrepreneurship; and demanding greater financial accountability, public probity, and better financial management from governments.