Faith Nyasuguta
Speaking during the opening conference of the ‘The Dakar 2 Summit on Feeding Africa: Food Sovereignty and Resilience’, Senegalese President and the African Union boss, Macky Sall, said that “Africa must learn to feed itself“.
“To transform our potential into reality, we need to allocate at least 10% of the national budget to the agricultural sector”, Sall spoke to the gathering which included several African heads of state.
President Sall is playing host to several counterparts including the heads of state of Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Mauritania, and Zambia at the AfDB co-organized conference on food sovereignty.
The heads of state have all insisted on the importance of food security for political stability and security of their nations.
According to the summit themed ‘Feed Africa: Food Sovereignty and Resilience’ and co-organized by the African Development Bank AfDB, some 283 million Africans are hungry as the continent is home to a third of the world’s 850 million people living with hunger.
The AfDB group President, Dr. Akinwumi A. Adesina opines that this must be addressed:
“The Dakar II Summit will mobilise political commitment, development partner and private sector investment, establish much needed policies and strategically drive actions to deliver at scale. This landmark event will be a turning point towards food sovereignty and resilience for the entire continent”.
In attendance, Kenyan president William Ruto called for more action saying the continent has been lagging behind for far too long.
“Let me say that the fact that we are having this conversation so many of us, as heads of states, from our good continent, and we’re discussing food, is not a very interesting thing to do. I think we should be discussing beyond food 60 years after the independence“.
The three-day Summit in Diamniadio, near Dakar, the Senegalese capital ends Friday, January 27.
