World Bank’s Food Systems Resilience Program Familiarizing Event Underway in Addis Ababa – ENA English

Addis Ababa, March 5, 2025 (ENA)—A learning event on World Bank’s “Food Systems Resilience Program (FSRP)”, which aims to boost food security in Eastern and Southern Africa by strengthening food systems against shocks, was launched Tusday.

The aim of the three-day event is to showcase the achievements by FSRP investment at national and regional levels, exchange knowledge, share lessons to create actionable strategies to build together resilient communities.

World Bank Operations Manager Maryam Salim, acknowledging the commitment of African countries to improve food and nutritional security in the continent, said on the occasion that efforts must be intensified because food and nutrition security remain a huge challenge in Africa.

According to her, the Bank’s Food Systems Resilience Program is operating at national, regional, and continental levels by improving farming, markets, and value chains through better practices, infrastructure, and training in countries like Ethiopia, Madagascar, Kenya, Tanzania, Somalia, Malawi, and Comoros.

“Here in Ethiopia, we have committed the single largest country financing to the FSRP – USD 600 million. And we are working with bilateral donors, including KfW of Germany and the Netherlands Embassy, to co-finance the program with additional USD 65 million.”

Although still in its early stages, the program has already shown results with 330,000 farmers adopting resilient agricultural practices and 3,000 hectares irrigated in the country, she added.

Pointing out Ethiopia’s significant strides in improving food security and nutrition, particularly among women and children, over the past decade, Agriculture Minister Girma Amente said the event is pivotal to share knowledge, foster collaboration, and engage in collective action to shape African food systems.

As “Ethiopia remains steadfast in its commitment to transforming the food system and ensuring long-term resilience, the FSRP, along with national initiatives such as the productive safety net program, Seqota Declaration, the nutrition sensitive agriculture strategy and others, are central to its approach,” he said.

AU Commissioner for Agricultural Development, Blue Economy and Sustainable Environment Josefa Sacko, thanked the World Bank for initiating and funding the FSRP, which aligns with Africa’s continental aspirations for sustainable agricultural transformation to build resilient sustainable agriculture systems.

As we implement the program, AU focuses on enhancing regional trade through a coordinated effort thus enhancing FSRP efforts on the continents through collaboration with the AfCFTA Secretariat, she noted.

“We believe that by working together, we can overcome the challenges facing Africa’s food systems…. So, a project like FSRP is a good instrument to support the AU to translate the continental aspiration into actionable areas for implementation at regional and national level.”

The commissioner encouraged as many countries as possible to embrace the FSRP so that they can benefit from the more than 3 billion US dollars that the FSRP has mobilized.

IGAD Executive Secretary, Workneh Gebeyehu, said IGAD region decided to fully embrace the food systems approach in order to rise above the challenges.

“In this regard, FSRP for Eastern and Southern Africa is one of the programs that IGAD is implementing with the support of the World Bank. The fact that FSRP in Africa is implemented at continental, regional and national levels in several countries makes it unique and provides great opportunity for collaboration and regional integration.”

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