(Ecofin Agency) - African Development Bank (AfDB) recently endorsed its “Feed Africa: Strategy for Agricultural Transformation in Africa 2016-2025 project” which aims to develop a competitive agro-food industry in Africa and improve living standards of agriculture-depending populations.

In fact, between 315 and 400 million dollars will be injected in 15 priority commodity value chains in order to achieve self-sufficiency in key commodities and “move up the value chain in key export-oriented commodities cocoa, coffee, cotton, cashew”. The bank which projects a yearly return on investment of $85 billion in case the project is fully-funded, will directly invest $24 billion and mobilize the remaining funds through diverse mechanisms.

Emphasizing on the importance of this program, AfDB indicated that Africa imports every year $35.4 billion of food products while it detains 65% of the world’s unexploited arable lands.

Aaron Akinocho