ADESINA TO FUND YOUNG FARMERS, AGRIPRENEURS WITH $0.25M WORLD FOOD PRIZE MONEY
President of African Development Bank (AfDB) Dr. Akinwunmi
Adesina says he would devote his $250,000 2017 World Food Prize money to
funding young African farmers, agripreneurs.
President of the World Food Prize Foundation, Ambassador
Kenneth Quinn, paid tribute to Adesina, “whose breakthrough achievements have
impacted millions of farmers and those living in rural poverty in Nigeria and
throughout Africa, and whose leadership holds great promise for uplifting
millions and millions more across that continent.”
Accompanied by Olusegun Obasanjo and John Mahama, former
Presidents of Nigeria and Ghana respectively, receive the award – the world’s
highest recognition for food and agriculture, with his wife Grace and his two
children, Rotimi and Segun. Representatives of the Nigerian Government, Purdue
University, his alma mater, friends, associates and Bank staff were among the well-wishers
who came in out in large numbers to celebrate the African agriculture icon,
known as “Africa’s Norman Borlaug.”
“And so, even though I don’t have the cash in my hand, I
hereby commit my $250,000 as a cash prize for the World Food Prize award to set
up a fund fully dedicated to providing financing for the youth of Africa in
agriculture to feed Africa. “We will arise and feed Africa. The day is coming
very soon when all its children will be well-fed, when millions of small-holder
farmers will be able to send their kids to school,” Adesina said.
This, he said, would give birth to “a new song across
Africa: “Thank God our lives are better at last.”
Speaking at the ceremony, the Vice-President of the United
States of America, Michael Pence, commended the Laureate in a speech read on
his behalf by Mark Green, Administrator of the United States Agency for
International Development (USAID). “As our global food system is stretched, and
the need to feed more people grows, agricultural transformation will require
persistence from leaders like you in driving change and capitalizing on public-
and private-sector expertise,” Pence said.
The Vice-President described Adesina’s devotion to the cause
of fighting global hunger as admirable, and deeply needed, and on behalf of
President Donald Trump, extended heartfelt congratulations.
“The United States is and remains committed to food
security, and we will continue to work with leaders like you to find innovative
ways to end global hunger,” he said.
A statement by the AfDB noted that under Adesina’s
leadership, the bank “is accelerating agricultural development through its Feed
Africa Strategy with planned investment of US $24 billion over the next 10
years.
“The World Food 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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