US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and African Development Bank Group President, Dr Akinwumi A. Adesina, met this week at the headquarters of AfricaRice—a pan-African centre of excellence for #RiceResearch, development, and capacity building that implements Bank agricultural programmes.
“Since 2018, rice yields have increased by 25% and livelihoods by more than 31%,” said AfricaRice Director General Dr Baboucarr Manneh.
Speaking during the visit, Dr Adesina thanked Secretary Blinken for a new grant of $9.5 million to support the Bank’s Technologies for African Agricultural Transformation -TAAT initiative. “I applaud the work President Biden is doing for global food security. I’m delighted with the partnership we have with the US Government to help us move forward on food security in Africa,” said Dr. Adesina.
TAAT aims to double the productivity of staple crops, livestock, and fisheries, by making proven technologies available to more than 40 million agricultural producers by 2025. This will produce an additional 120 million tons of food.
Alluding to that work, Blinken said: “The African Development Bank is making the necessary investments in sustainable production in a smart, effective way and along with its AfricaRice programme maximising crops and producing crops that can stand up to climate change.”
Beyond crops such as rice, Secretary Blinken said the Biden administration was convinced that there is tremendous potential in investing in the production of crops that are climate-resilient and highly nutritious, including some of Africa’s neglected traditional foods.
