To set up fund for young farmers,
agripreneurs with US $250,000 World Food Prize money Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, the
President of the African Development Bank, in the early hours of yesterday in
Des Moines, the capital city of Iowa, United States of
America, became the
sixth African to be awarded the World Food Prize in a ceremony witnessed by two
former African Presidents.
Elated Adesina said he will used
the award prize money of $250,000 to set up a foundation for African youth
development in Agriculture. While thanking God for seeing and for taking him
this far in his chosen profession, he said “ it is simply amazing that the son
of ATQ poor farmer can be at the world stage receiving this award. I will dedicate
my life to feeding the world.” Thanking former President Olusegun Obasanjo, who
was present with former Ghanaian President, John Mahama, for nominating him to
serve as a minister in Johnathan’s government, Adesina said “For me, the World
Food Prize is a great honour and recognition for all of the work that I have
done for decades of my life.
But it also puts wind behind our
sail as we now take off to feed Africa, because it is a job that has to be
complete,” he stressed. “Not only must Africa feed itself, it must feed itself
with pride. Africa must also unlock the potentials of agriculture, turning
agriculture from something that you use for managing poverty, to something that
you use for creating wealth.” The World Food Prize is a great motivation which
puts the wind behind the sails of what the African Development Bank is doing
with its development priorities − the High 5s – especially Feed Africa, the
President of the Bank, Akinwumi Adesina, has said. He noted how the High 5s
were all linked, and pledged the commitment of the Bank to continue its
development work in Africa. Adesina also stressed the need to put technology
and information in the hands of farmers describing the mobile phone as the most
important tool in the hands of a farmer. “With it, they will find out
information about the market, about weather, and about to access finance,”
Adesina said. “They will be able to get information about nutrition for
mothers, for instance. That is very important. That was why when I was Minister
of Agriculture in Nigeria, we launched this electronic wallet system that
allows farmers to access fertilizers, and we reached well over 15 million
farmers.” Awareness and empowerment, he said, could only come through providing
information, democratizing the access to information to farmers. “I have never
seen a farmer that wants to be poor,” he said. President Muhammad Buhari,, who
was represented at the ceremony by minister of state for Agriculture , Senator
Heineken Lokpobiri, iin a video message earlier , said the choice of Adesina as
2017 World Food Prize Laureate is a clear recombination and appreciation of his
standing contributions to food security and for driving change in African
agriculture for over 25 years. “By dint of hard work, persistence, diligent efforts
and God’s sufficient grace, you have risen above many limitations to emerge as
a notable figure and a true champion. Your life story mirrors the resilience of
the Africa spirit and doggedness for which Nigerians are well known In June,
the World Food Prize announced African Development Bank President Akinwumi A.
Adesina as the 2017 Laureate for his work in improving the availability of
seed, fertilizer and financing for African farmers, and for laying the
foundation for the youth in Africa to engage in agriculture as a profitable
business. Known as the ‘Nobel Prize for Agriculture’, the World Food Prize was
founded by Nobel Peace Prize-winner Norman Borlaug and is considered the
foremost international honour recognizing the achievements of individuals who
have advanced human development by improving the quality, quantity or
availability of food in the world. The Prize is presented each October on or
around UN World Food Day (October 16) in a ceremony in the Iowa State capital
of Des Moines. Under President Adesina’s leadership, the AfDB is accelerating
agricultural development through its Feed Africa Strategy with planned
investment of US $24 billion over the next 10 years. The prize also recognizes
Adesina’s work over the past two decades with the Rockefeller Foundation, at
the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), and as Nigeria’s Minister
of Agriculture of Agriculture and Rural Development.
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