All of These Require Africa to Feed Itself
Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, the President of African Development Bank
So, for me, when I became the president of the bank, the question I ask myself is “Where’s the poor? Where are they?” Majority of the poor, about 70%, almost 80% of the poor in Africa, they are living in rural areas. They depend on agriculture for their livelihoods. They depend on agriculture on whether they can send their kids to school, whether they can have good housing, whether they have good clothing, good health.
So, if agriculture doesn’t perform, it means that almost 80% of the population of Africa will never be able to have good things in their life.
So, I decided, as a president of the bank that, there were 5 things that I was going to focus on.
They call them High 5s now at the bank. Light up and power Africa, that is universal access to electricity in Africa. Second one, which is related to your question, feed Africa. I want Africa to be a global powerhouse in agriculture. The third one is to industrialize Africa. The fourth one to integrate African and the fifth one is to improve the quality of life of the people of Africa.
All of these requires Africa to feed itself. No region in the world has been able to develop without being able to feed itself.
To see more videos related to Sunhak Peace Prize, visit:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtPzSUuFFHQZr-Cv7YRr2Fg/videos