Posted on September, 2, 2019 at 10:22 am
JAPAN has pledged to help Africa double its rice production by the year 2030 at a conference being attended by African leaders in the city of Yokohama.
Speaking on the sidelines of the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (Ticad), Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Japanese technology and innovation would play a key role in achieving this goal.
The plan is to help the continent produce 50 million tonnes in 11 years’ time.
The Africa Development Bank (AfDB) has supported the initiative.
“In spite of all the gains made in agriculture, we are not winning the global war against hunger. We must all arise collectively and end global hunger. To do that, we must end hunger in Africa. Hunger diminishes our humanity,” AfDB President Akinwumi Adesina said.
The United Nations report on the State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2019 says that Africa has more than 250 million people who were in chronic hunger last year.
As part of efforts to improve agricultural productivity, Japan in partnership with the AfDB hopes to help shift the mindset of smallholder African farmers from producing to eat to producing to sell.
Nigeria - Africa's most-populous nation - has been trying to boost rice production since 2015, after President Muhammadu Buhari blocked the importation of rice.
But the policy has been criticised for not taking the low capacity of local farmers into consideration – and it has led to tonnes of smuggled rice coming in mainly from neighbouring Benin.
Meanwhile, PM Abe also warned African leaders about the dangers of accumulating too much debt. Abe's comments are seen as a warning about China's role in Africa as Beijing is said to favour its own companies for big infrastructure projects on the continent.
He told the leaders that Japan was promoting "quality" investments to be supported by Japanese institutions.
Tokyo plans to train experts in 30 African countries in the next three years on how to manage risk and public debts, with more Japanese entrepreneurs being encouraged to invest so as to improve economies on the continent.
"If partner countries are deeply in debt, it interferes with everyone's efforts to enter the market," the Japanese prime minister affirmed.
Abe is co-chairing the Tokyo International Conference for African Development (Ticad) summit against a backdrop of China's increasing influence in Africa.
Unlike China, sound financial advice and support is behind its Africa strategy, the premier added.
Source: IPP Media