Don't Miss


Home   >   Business   >   Industries   >   Agriculture   >   AFDB Promises support for Agricultural cooperatives Development

AFDB Promises support for Agricultural cooperatives Development

By on October 19, 2012

The African Development Bank said it is devoted to supporting agricultural cooperatives in Africa to accomplish sustainable development in food security.

In a statement to mark the World Food Day 2012, the World Bank maintained that, growing threats to the use of Africa’s resource base and the growing foreign direct investment, cooperatives can play remarkable roles in protecting farmers’ interest in the long term by nurturing sustainable agricultural preparations that guarantee these natural resource assets are protected for future generations.

 

The official World Food Day theme, declared each spring by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), gives spotlight to World Food Day observances and hoists consciousness and understanding of advances to ending hunger.

 

According to the statement, “Agricultural Cooperatives, Key to Feeding the World” is the formal wording of the 2012 theme. It has been chosen to highlight the role of cooperatives in improving food security and contributing to the eradication of hunger.”

 

“It is clear that the role of cooperatives and community organizations are critical in the fight for food security in Africa. Cooperatives satisfy their members’ needs while pursuing profit and sustainability. They are often a key institution in rural life and for the marketing of farmer inputs and produce. Cooperatives are also crucial for fostering democracy and good governance at the local level.”

 

“The African Development Bank, through its agriculture, governance, and private sector departments, is well placed to support the renaissance of the cooperative movement towards truly profit seeking entities working for agricultural transformation in Africa.”

 

“The Bank undertakes to channel, where feasible, the use of local development funds in projects and programs through existing and credible agricultural cooperatives on the continent.”

“Worldwide, practically 870 million people (one in eight) are suffering from hunger and chronic under nourishment between 2010 and 2012, with 98 per cent of this number living in developing countries and 27 per cent to be found in Africa,” the statement said.

 

This year’s commemoration comes at a significant point in time when a part of the continent is recuperating from the destruction shaped by the drought in the Horn of Africa, and the Sahel support for harsh food scarcity in the coming months.