African Development Bank Group to highlight agricultural technologies at African Summit on Fertilizers and Soil Health

Representing the President of the Bank Group, Dr. Akinwumi A. Adesina, Vice President of Agriculture, Human and Social Development, Dr. Beth Dunford, will lead a delegation of specialists in agriculture, agribusiness, fertilizers and partnerships to the summit. The event will explore solutions to the widespread decline in soil quality of agricultural land and build consensus on an African Action Plan on Fertilizers and Soil Health. The summit will also adopt an African Union Commission initiative to improve the health and productivity of African soils.

More than 1,500 participants from across Africa, including Heads of State and Ministers, are expected to attend.

Dunford will speak during a side event titled “Dakar 2: The State of Soil and Fertilizer Health in Africa: Policy, Governance and Institutional Framework to Accelerate National Agriculture and Food Supply Pacts.” Hosted by the Leadership for Agriculture network, a partnership of the African Development Bank, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation, the session will bring together representatives from agriculture ministries, the private sector and other stakeholders to showcase successful efforts from Ethiopia and Mali to scale up interventions on soil health, increase crop productivity and strengthen rural livelihoods. It will promote the implementation of the Food Delivery and Agriculture Pacts to achieve food self-sufficiency arising from the Dakar 2 Feed Africa Summit held in January 2023.

Dunford will also deliver a keynote address at a side event on May 7 co-hosted by the Bank Group, the African Union and the U.S. Department of State. This side event, titled Advancing the Soils Initiative for Africa through the Vision for Adapted Crops and Soils, will showcase the strategic and developing relationship between the African Development Bank and the Vision for Adapted Crops and Soils (VACS). led by the United States, a movement to build resilient food systems based on diverse, nutritious and climate-smart crops grown in healthy, fertile soils. VACS is aligned with the Bank’s Technologies for African Agricultural Transformation (TAAT) initiative. TAAT delivers certified heat-tolerant, drought-resistant and other climate-smart seeds to millions of smallholder farmers in Africa to produce an additional 120 million tons of food in Africa and lift 130 million people out of poverty.

Other speakers at the side event include African Union Ambassador for Agriculture and Rural Development Josefa Leonel Correia Sacko and US Special Envoy for Food Security Dr. Cary Fowler.

As part of its Feed Africa strategy to increase yields and build resilience, the African Development Bank is committed to ensuring that African farmers have access to the inputs they need, including high-quality fertilizers and seeds.

Dr Martin Fregene, Director of Agriculture and Agribusiness at the Bank, said: “The importance of fertilizer financing in achieving our shared aspirations cannot be underestimated. “The African Summit on Fertilizers and Soil Health presents another opportunity to advance our collective goals: closing the fertilizer supply gap in Africa and contributing to a flourishing agricultural landscape.”

Dr. Fregene will speak at the Bank’s side event on the theme Dakar 2, as well as at the Healthy Soils for Food System Transformation event.