Pan African bank Afreximbank has roped in Zimbabwe and two other countries to grow agricultural produce for export to Egypt under a US$2 billion plan to boost food production on the continent.
The Export Agriculture for Food Security (ExAFS) initiative, which was signed on Monday, represents Afreximbank's ambitious strategy to enhance the production, processing, and intra-African trade of agricultural products.
The plan seeks to create opportunities for African farmers and agribusinesses to tap into larger markets within the continent, thereby contributing to food security.
Zimbabwe, Malawi and Chad will play the role of policy enablers to ensure a conducive environment for the agricultural transformation centres (ATCs).
Zone developers, large-scale commercial farmers, seed companies and development finance institutions, will invest in the ATCs and their necessary infrastructure and will be the primary purchasers and aggregators in the origin markets.
The anchor buyers such as Egypt will be the primary export markets for agricultural produce.
Egypt, a nation of 112 million people, is one of the world’s biggest wheat importers and also relies on imports of other basic foods and fuel.
Afreximbank will act as the financier, facilitator and advisor and will lead the implementation of partnership activities.
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The pan-African bank's agriculture plan is intended to help address food insecurity in Africa, which includes a nearly 20% hunger rate, by reducing dependence on other regions for much-needed food commodities. ExAFS will also increase sales, lead to better prices, and improve profitability for Africa’s agricultural value chain stakeholders, the bank said.
The US$2bn agriculture plan will leverage the establishment of ATCs — under a public-private partnership model — in agricultural production zones to provide facilities for agricultural produce from farming communities to be collected, sorted, stored, and transported as raw material for processing or distribution.
ATCs will also provide additional services to farmers, including microfinance, basic social services, cold storage facilities, extension services and training.
Zimbabwe is endowed with rich soils and conducive climatic conditions for agriculture but lacks resources to ramp up production, resulting in the once breadbasket of the region relying on rainfed agriculture despite the changing conditions brought about by climate change.
Monday’s agreement was signed by ARISE Integrated Industrial Platforms and the governments of Chad, Malawi, Zimbabwe and Egypt.
Afreximbank president Benedict Oramah signed on behalf of the bank. Other signatories were Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development minister Anxious Masuka (Zimbabwe), Industry and Trade minister Robertine Walendom (Chad), Industry and Trade minister Sosten Gwengwe (Malawi), InternationalCo-operation minister Rania A Al-Mashat (Egypt) and Gagan Gupta founder and CEO of ARISE IIP.
