Africa’s $1.5 Billion Food Facility Fuels Harvest Gains and Push for Lasting Security

Dr Martin Fregene, overseeing the Bank’s Agriculture, Human and Social Development Vice Presidency, warned that emergency funding alone would be insufficient for a continent projected to have 2.5 billion people by 2050.

Millions of African farmers have received seeds and fertiliser through an emergency programme that has helped deliver an additional 45 million metric tons of food, raising a pressing question for leaders meeting in Kigali: how can those gains become a dependable part of everyday farming? Government ministers, development partners and business leaders gathered on 2 September during the Africa Food Systems Forum to review the African Development Bank Group's African Emergency Food Production Facility across 34 countries and discuss the investments needed to move beyond repeated crisis responses.

Bigger Harvests Show What Targeted Support Can Deliver

Approved in May 2022, the $1.5 billion facility was established to prevent immediate food shortages through practical support, including climate-smart seeds and fertilisers, with an intended reach of some 20 million smallholder farmers. Presenting its results, the Bank's Chief Agricultural Technologies Officer, Dr Innocent Musabyimana, reported that nearly 15 million farmers had been reached, more than 400,000 metric tons of certified seed distributed and almost 3 million metric tons of fertiliser delivered. Partners including Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), Norway, the Netherlands and Germany contributed about $300 million.

Country experiences showed how access to farming supplies translated into larger harvests, with Nigeria recording a fourfold increase in wheat production and Côte d'Ivoire doubling maize output. Côte d'Ivoire's minister delegate responsible for food crop production, Bernard Kini Comoé, credited a project co-financed by the Bank and JICA with improving access to fertiliser and better seeds, boosting cassava, maize and rice yields. Central African Republic Agriculture Minister Emmanuel Mbetide Bessane described a $5.4 million Bank-financed project that increased production and productivity of those crops and strengthened national research capacity.

Farmers Need More Than Help During a Crisis

Nigeria's Agriculture and Food Security Minister, Abubakar Kyari, said recent emergencies had exposed deep weaknesses in Africa's food systems, arguing that dependence on emergency interventions leaves countries vulnerable to the next disruption. His recommendations included diversifying food and agricultural input sources, combining public funding with concessional and private capital, and managing strategic food reserves transparently. Musabyimana identified lasting improvements to seed systems, fertiliser access and markets as the next challenge, connecting the facility's immediate achievements to the services farmers need season after season.

Dr Martin Fregene, overseeing the Bank's Agriculture, Human and Social Development Vice Presidency, warned that emergency funding alone would be insufficient for a continent projected to have 2.5 billion people by 2050. He called for sustainable businesses that get supplies to farmers and food to consumers on time, supported by reliable credit, insurance, fertiliser and places to sell harvests. JICA Vice President Seisuke Inoue described preparedness as an investment in a public good, pointing to irrigation, agricultural extension services and the Coalition for African Rice Development as examples of investments producing economic benefits.

Technology and Timely Financing Shape the Next Steps

Making useful technology available to more farming communities was a priority for Dr Simeon Ehui, Director General of the Nigeria-based International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, who urged leaders, researchers and farmers to concentrate on innovations that could reach wider food systems. Everlyn Musyoka, Bayer Crop Science's Africa strategy lead for its smallholder business, called for stronger digital infrastructure, policies focused on young people and deeper partnerships between governments and businesses, identifying practical areas for the next generation of agricultural investment.

African Union Commissioner Moses Vilakati closed the discussion by calling for emergency financing to follow the agricultural calendar, recognising that support must arrive when farmers can use it. He recommended wider deployment of technology, stronger strategic partnerships and greater investment in preparedness before future shocks, with emergency programmes reinforcing national systems rather than bypassing them. The discussion placed lasting food security around a clear requirement: farmers need dependable support between emergencies as much as they need rapid assistance when a crisis strikes.