AfDB and Sasakawa Africa Association Sign MOU to Boost Agriculture in Africa

Chiji Ojukwu, the Director of AfDB's Agriculture 

and Agro-industry Department, signed the MOU 

together with Ruth Oniang'o, 

Chairperson of the Sasakawa Africa Association.

27 August 2016. Nairobi. The African Development Bank (AfDB) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Sasakawa Africa Association (SAA) to promote agriculture and agri-business in Africa.

The MOU was signed during the Sasakawa Symposium on "Contributing to Social Security and Jobs through Agriculture: 30 years of Sasakawa in Africa", held at the Sixth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD VI) in Nairobi, Kenya.

Under the MOU, the AfDB and SAA will collaborate on commercialisation of smallholder agriculture and food security; gender empowerment for better participation in economic development; private sector development; as well as youth engagement in agribusiness.

Already the Bank is rolling out its ENABLE (Empowering Novel Agri-Business Led Employment) Youth initiative, in partnership with the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA). The program seeks to bolster youth entrepreneurship in agriculture and agri-business. The initiative will see the Bank train the next generation of agriculture entrepreneurs, also referred to as 'agripreneurs' in several countries, and provide them with seed money through banks to finance their business plans.