According to the Global Hunger Index (2022), released recently Nigeria ranks 103rd among 121 countries currently confronting food crisis in the world.
Quite unfortunate that Nigeria one of the populous country in Sub-sahara Africa, with over 34 million hectares of arable land with rich and diverse biomass is facing hunger crisis.
The President of the African Development Bank (AfDB) Akinwumi Adesina, revealed the statistic at the launch of the special Agro – Industrial Processing Zones (SAPZ) held on Monday in Abuja.
After the SAPZ summit, Adesina hinted that bank is investing over $1 billion in SAPZ in 18 African countries, that while AfDB will be providing $210m for the development of SAPZ in Nigeria, the Islamic Development Bank will be co-financing with #150m, and the International Fund for Agriculture Development will be offering $160m.
The President of the Africa Development Bank (AfDB) also said that while 23 States in Nigeria have already identified with the scheme, 19 additional state governments have indicated interest to establish special agro-industries processing zones.
Adesina said ” Africa faces huge challenges in meeting its food needs, with 283 million people that go hungry annually.”
He also acknowledged that Africa has massive agricultural potential with 65% of the uncultivated arable land left to feed over 9 billion people in the world by 2050.
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