Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina, President, Africa Development Bank |
Tectono
Business Review
gathered that the prize is to agriculture what Nobel Prize is to peace, science
and literature, and will be conferred on Adesina on Thursday, October 19, in
Iowa. Dr. Adesina, a former Nigeria’s Minister for Agriculture, will also
deliver the Norman Borlaug Lecture, as part of activities marking the World
Food Day. The Norman Borlaug Lecture titled: “Betting on Africa to Feed the
World” will be held in conjunction with the annual World Food Prize
celebration.
A
statement from the AfDB made available to Tectono Business Review, said the World Food
Prize board announced Adesina as the 2017 Laureate in June for his work in
improving the availability of seed, fertilizer and financing for African
farmers. Dr. Adesina is also being recognised for laying the foundation for the
youth in Africa to engage in agriculture as a profitable business.
The
World Food Prize, founded by Nobel Laureate, Norman Borlaug, is the foremost international honour recognising
the achievements of individuals, who have advanced human development by
improving the quality, quantity or availability of food in the world.
As
Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development in Nigeria, Dr. Adesina, who is a
PhD holder in Agricultural Economics, introduced the E-Wallet system, which
brought transparency to fertilizer distribution system – a process previously
hampered by corruption for 40 years. His policies expanded Nigeria’s food
production by 21 million metric tonnes, and the country attracted $5.6billion
in private-sector investment, earning him tremendous respect as the ‘farmers’
Minister’. Under his leadership, the AfDB is accelerating agricultural
development through its Feed Africa Strategy with planned investment of U.S.
$24billion over the next 10 years.
The
goals of AfDB’s Feed Africa strategy are to help eliminate extreme poverty in
Africa by 2025; end hunger and malnutrition in Africa by 2025; make Africa a
net food exporter; and move Africa to the top of export-orientated global value
chains where it has comparative advantage. Over 1,200 people from more than 65
countries will address cutting-edge issues related to global food security and
nutrition at the 2017 Borlaug Dialogue International Symposium, October 18-20,
2017.
“As someone who grew out of poverty, I know that poverty is not
pretty. My life mission is to lift up millions of people out of poverty, especially
farmers in rural areas. We must give hope and turn agriculture into a
business,” the
AfDB President said.
The
three-day conference convenes a wide array of scientific experts, policy
leaders, business executives and farmers and has been branded “the premier
conference in the world on global agriculture.” Through the Borlaug Dialogue,
the World Food Prize Foundation helps build alliances in the struggle against
world hunger and malnutrition.
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