Adesina to fund agropreneurs with $250,000 World Food Prize money

Akinwumi Adesina, president of the African Development Bank (AfDB), has pledged to devote the $250,000 World Food Prize money he won to support young African farmers and agriculture entrepreneurs.
“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,” Adesina said in the United States of America while receiving the prize weekend.
“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.
“Then you will hear a new song across Africa: ‘Thank God our lives are better at last.”

Kenneth Quinn, president of the World Food Prize Foundation, 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.”

In a speech at the colourful ceremony, Michael Pence, vice-president of the United States of America, 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.