African and non-regional donors have pledged seventeen million dollars to replenish the Africa Solidarity Trust Fund, an initiative that aims to provide food security and eliminate rural poverty in the region.
The pledges were made at a donor round-table convened by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation, FAO and Equatorial Guinea President Obiang Nguema Mbasogo on the sidelines of the African Development Bank’s 2019 Annual Meetings underway in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea.
Opening the conference in the Equatorial Guinea, President Obiang Nguema Mbasogo said the fund illustrated a turning point in the fight against food insecurity, adding that his tiny oil-rich nation had donated generously out of its oil revenues to show solidarity to African countries.
The fund is an initiative of the FAO, received its start-up contribution of thirty million dollars from Equatorial Guinea, the host nation of this year’s meetings and Angola, which gave ten million dollars.
Speaking, the African Development Bank President Akinwumi Adesina said Africa faced challenges in the area of agriculture and food production, relying heavily on food imports.
