AfDB Receives Foreign Support, Targets 30m African Farmers

The African Development Bank’s efforts to improve climate adaptation in Africa and support farmers with digital climate advisory services have received assistance from foreign stakeholders.

According to the AfDB, one of its initiative, the Africa Adaptation Acceleration Programme (AAAP), which it described as a game-changer for Africa to deliver results and impact on adaptation, will support 30 million farmers with digital climate advisory services.

Specifically, the Bank’s President, Akinwumi Adesina, in a series of posts on Twitter, announced the support from the United Kingdom and the United States.

According to Adesina, President Joe Biden of the United States at the summit on the African Acceleration Programme, which was held in Glasgow, Scotland, pledged a $3 billion fund to support climate adaptation in Africa.

Also, he said the UK Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, pledged the issuance of guarantees worth $2 billion to the AfDB as its way of providing financial support for the attainment of climate resilience in the continent.

The AAAP is a partnership arrangement between the Global Center on Adaptation (GCA) and the African Development Bank (AfDB).

Furthermore, Adesina noted that Africa loses up to $15 billion annually from issues bordering on climate change, stressing the urgent need to upscale efforts to achieve climate resilience in Africa.

He said the AfDB has doubled its climate financing efforts through the AAAP which he described as “one of the boldest efforts ever” to achieve climate adaptation.

A statement obtained by AgroNigeria from the official AfDB website read, “The African Union-backed program aims to mobilize $25 billion to drive adaptation on the African continent to reduce malnutrition for at least 10 million people, support one million youth with entrepreneurship skills and job creation, and integrate climate resilience into about $7 billion worth of infrastructure investments, among other results.

“The Africa Adaptation Acceleration Program is a game-changer for Africa to deliver results and impacts on adaptation, fast and at scale. It will support 30 million farmers with digital climate advisory services.

“The Technologies for African Agricultural Transformation program supported by the African Development Bank and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has already delivered climate resilient technologies for 11.2 million farmers in just two years.

“With the Africa Adaptation Acceleration Program, we expect to reach 40 million farmers. We plan to support farmers in producing 100 million metric tons of food, which will be enough to feed 200 million people and reduce hunger by 80%.”

source agronigeria