The President of the African Development Bank President (AfDB), Akinwumi Adesina, has said that the continent’s agricultural business will worth $1 trillion by 2030.
He explained that this foresight is due to the fact that there would be a higher need to feed the expected continent’s increased population that is estimated to hit 2.5 billion by 2050, double its current 1.2 billion.
While speaking at an event in Abeokuta where he received a honorary doctorate award, Adesina said that the higher the population, the higher the need to increase food production.
“The size of food and agriculture in Africa will rise to $1 trillion by 2030. The population of Africa, now at 1.2 billion, will double to 2.5 billion by 2050. They all must eat. And only through food and agribusiness can this be achieved.
”What Africa does with food will determine the future of food, given that 65% of the arable land left to feed the world is here, Agriculture is the most important profession and business in the world,” he said.
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Speaking further, Adesina commended the Nigerian Government for its promotion of agriculture and agri-business through schemes and platforms set up for the farmers. While assuring the youths of his support for Nigeria’s agricultural sector, he urged them to continue to engage in the sector and its practice in order to transform it.
Adesina spoke on how it delights him to see so many young people taking advantage of the opportunities that abound in the agriculture value chain which can be seen in the success of the Youth Employment in Agriculture initiative which was launched while he was a minister.
”From their innovations in the use of drones, food processing, packaging, transport and logistics and marketing, they are already unlocking the opportunities in agriculture,” he said as reported by New Telegraph.
He ended by calling on agricultural universities to optimize their role in linking research, innovations and technologies to farmers and the food and agriculture industry.
