The African Development Bank Group (AfDB) has warned African countries, including Nigeria, of a looming surge in the prices of food, and energy among others in the coming months as the Russia-Ukraine war continues its disruptive impact on global food supply chain.
In a statement on its website, the bank attributed the warning to its President, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, while answering questions from the Council’s Africa Center Chair, Ambassador Rama Yade; Senior Fellow Aubrey Hruby; and Washington/UN correspondent for Jeune Afrique and The Africa Report, Julian Pecquet as a guest at the Atlantic Council’s Africa Centre, at the weekend.
Adesina was quoted as forecasting that the costs of fertilizer, rising energy prices, and rising costs of food baskets, could worsen in Africa in the months ahead and charged the governments to proactively respond to the imminent crisis by boosting food commodities production on a massive scale.
Speaking on the disruptive impact of the Russia-Ukraine war on the global food supply chain, Adesina sympathized with the people of Ukraine as the crisis continues to take toll on lives and economic activities in the country, describing their suffering as unimaginable.
Adesina, who noted that Russia and Ukraine supply 30 percent of global wheat exports, the price of which has surged by almost 50 percent globally, also pointed out that fertilizer prices had tripled just as energy prices continue to rise, thereby triggering inflation across geographic frontiers globally.
He warned “that the tripling costs of fertilizer, rising energy prices, and rising costs of food baskets, could worsen in Africa in the coming months. He noted that 90 per cent of Russia’s $4bn exports to Africa in 2020 was made up of wheat; and 48 per cent of Ukraine’s near $3bn exports to the continent was made of wheat and 31 per cent of maize.”
The development finance expert charged governments in Africa and other parts of the world to intensify their efforts in food production as a strategic step towards averting food crisis.
Adesina restated the multilateral development finance institution’s commitment to supporting the governments’ agricultural development programmes through funding and other interventions to mitigate the impact of the Russia-Ukraine war on the continent.
