Abuja, Nigeria – Nigeria’s recent decision to suspend duties, tariffs, and taxes on the importation of maize, husked brown rice, wheat, and cowpeas for 150 days has drawn criticism from Akinwumi Adesina, President of the African Development Bank (AFDB).
In a statement published on AFDB’s X account, Adesina addressed African Primates of the Anglican Church during a retreat in Abuja themed “Food security and financial sustainability in Africa: The role of the Church.”
“Nigeria’s recently announced policy to open its borders for massive food imports, just to tackle short-term food price hikes, is depressing,” Adesina remarked.
He warned that the policy could undermine the significant investments and efforts made in Nigeria’s agricultural sector. “Nigeria cannot rely on the importation of food to stabilize prices. Nigeria should be producing more food to stabilize food prices, while creating jobs and reducing foreign exchange spending, which will further help stabilize the Naira,” he said.
Adesina emphasized that Nigeria “cannot import its way out of food insecurity” and must not become dependent on food imports. “A nation that depends on others to feed itself, is independent only in name,” he warned.
Highlighting that Africa accounts for nearly a third of the more than 780 million people worldwide who are hungry, Adesina underscored the importance of agriculture for economic diversification and rural transformation in Africa.
“It is clear therefore that unless we transform agriculture, Africa cannot eliminate poverty,” he stated.
With 65 percent of the world’s uncultivated arable land, Africa’s role in feeding the global population of 9.5 billion by 2050 is crucial, Adesina noted. He projected that the food and agriculture market in Africa will reach $1 trillion by 2030.
Adesina briefed the primates on the Bank’s $25 billion program aimed at transforming agriculture by providing high-performing technologies to 40 million farmers and making Africa food self-sufficient by 2030.
He also highlighted the successes of the Bank’s Technologies for African Agricultural Transformation (TAAT) program, which has helped Ethiopia become a net exporter of wheat and significantly increased wheat production in Sudan.
For Nigeria, Adesina noted that the Bank, in collaboration with the Islamic Development Bank and the International Fund for Agricultural Development, has provided $520 million to support the establishment of Special Agricultural Processing Zones. These zones will enable private agribusinesses to process and add value to agricultural commodities.
Additionally, the Bank provided $134 million to Nigeria for emergency food production to combat food price inflation by boosting local production of wheat and cassava under the National Agricultural Growth Scheme.
Adesina urged the Nigerian government to leverage the Bank’s investments and support for African farmers, showing greater commitment to achieving food self-sufficiency and incentivizing private-sector agribusinesses.
