adminMALABO. — African leaders yesterday called for increased public and private support to the agriculture sector as the 23rd Ordinary Session of the African Union Summit opened in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea.
The continent is ravaged by hunger and disease with over 200 million people facing food shortages but has a huge percentage of the world’s most arable land.
The summit is running under the theme, “Agriculture and food security”.
AU Commission chairperson Nkosazana Dhlamini Zuma opened the Heads of State and Government summit with calls for governments to push for increased spending on agriculture especially targeted at women and youth.
“We must set targets to improve investment in agriculture and productivity,” she said.
“It means mobilising investments, private and public, into facilities that will stimulate agricultural productivity,” she said, adding extending financial support targeted at women and youth was critical.
“We must get our banks to at least give 30 percent of their agriculture funding to women,” she said.
Zuma said agriculture modernisation through mechanisation would also enhance participation of the youth in the sector.
“Young people are not interested in agriculture and it’s a reflection that our agriculture is still quite traditional,” she said.
AU chairperson, President Mohamed Abdel Aziz of Mauritania said investment in agriculture would contribute to the overall growth of the continent. – New Ziana.
Online Reporter