AfDB launches initiative to drive ‘unprecedented’ investments into Africa’s agri-food sector

The African Development Bank (AfDB) on May 30, 2012 launched a new initiative which it says has the potential to “catalyze unprecedented” levels of investment in the agri-food sector across the African continent.

Known as the United Fund, the initiative was launched at the Bank’s ongoing Annual General Meetings in Arusha, Tanzania. The Bank says it is to respond to growing concerns about food security and to unleash the largely untapped potential of agricultural and agro-industrial Africa.

The launch of this initiative comes as African agriculture and food security is gaining more and more space on the international agenda, with the recent G8 summit at Camp David pledging to promote investment for sustainable agriculture on the continent.

“This initiative has the potential to catalyze unprecedented levels of investment in the agri-food sector across the African continent. This potential can be realized only through an effective implementation and response,” Mouhamadou Niang, Head of Division in the Private Sector Department of the AfDB said in a statement.

The AfDB says it is currently developing an environmental and social management system complying with international standards for the United Fund.

By Ekow Quandzie