Akinwumi Adesina, president of the African Development Bank (AfDB), says Africa should prepare for the inevitability of a global food crisis occasioned by the Russia-Ukraine war. Adesina said this while speaking about Africa’s priorities as a guest at the Atlantic Council’s Africa Center on Friday.
Adeshina said the war’s ramifications spread far beyond Ukraine to other parts of the world, including Africa. According to him, Russia and Ukraine supply 30% of global wheat exports. This price has surged by almost 50% globally, reaching identical levels as the 2008 global food crisis.
He added that fertilizer prices had tripled, and energy prices had increased, all fuelling inflation.
Adesina warned that the tripling costs of fertilizer, rising energy prices, and rising costs of food baskets, could worsen in Africa in the coming months.
Adesina cautioned that to fend off a food crisis, Africa should rapidly expand its food production. “My basic principle is that Africa should not be begging. We must solve our own challenges ourselves without depending on others.”
