Luanda - The negative effects of war between Russia and Ukraine on the African continent will be reduced by the end of the first semester of 2023, the Commissioner for Rural Economy and Agriculture of the African Union (AU), Josefa Correia Sacko, told ANGOP Monday.
Josefa Sacko said the AU is currently working with the African Development Bank (AfDB), having received 1.5 billion US dollars in May 2022 to finance grain production on the continent, whose results will be visible by the end of the first six months of 2023.
"To mitigate the effects of the Russia/ Ukraine war, we are working at the AU level with the AfDB on an initiative that has been approved by AU President, Macky Sall. It is an emergency plan for cereal production that is in place and countries have already started to benefit", the AU Commissioner said.
In addition to the funding from the AFDB, Sacko said the AU has received 3.4 billion from the World Bank to combat climate change, particularly drought, and ensuring food resilience - an amount intended for the sub-regions of East Africa and Southern Africa, whose projects will be monitored by the African Union.
The AU Commissioner explained that Africa is 30 percent dependent on wheat produced by the two countries in conflict and that this situation has affected the wheat, sunflower oil and maize supply to Africa, mainly in countries such as Egypt, Algeria, Nigeria, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania and Kenya.
Aside from food shortages, Sacko noted that the war could also cause socio-economic unrest such as demonstrations on the African continent, due to the rise in food prices similar to what happened in 2011.
The diplomat explained that in 2011, when the price of wheat rose, there was revolt from the population because in African countries there are many families that need bread for breakfast as it is food for our livelihood.
"We want our population to have access to these products, because with the rise in the price of wheat everything goes up and affects families, because we already have quite high poverty rates and wages do not keep up. Therefore, this brings conflicts in the countries, so they are very dangerous and we have to take measures", she explained.
The AU official went on to stress that, apart from the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, Africa is already suffering from several macro-economic issues, climate change and lack of investment.
The diplomat pointed out that Covid-19 has caused disruption in the supply of cereals such as sunflower oil and maize, which are imported from Russia and Ukraine.
Referring to Agenda 2020/2063, the minister said that in 2010 Africa had the 2015-2025 action plans to eradicate hunger on the continent by 2025, whose indicators received from biennial and annual reports by the ADFB, FAO and AU are not very satisfactory.
Angolan Josefa Leonel Correia Sacko is an agricultural engineer, economist and ambassador to the AU. She previously served as Secretary-General of the Inter-African Coffee Organisation for 13 years.
In 2017, she was elected Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Economy of the African Union.
