At a conference on Tuesday, Akinwumi Adesina, AfDB president, said global partners must collaborate to lift one billion people worldwide out of hunger.

He added the bank is investing $24bn in African agriculture over the next 10 years, as part of moves to fight hunger in the continent.

Adesina said: “We are not winning the war against global hunger.”

He cited the UN’s latest world food security and nutrition data, which showed the number of hungry people in the world had increased from 777 million in 2015 to 815 million in 2016.

Adesina also called for global partnerships to establish “staple crop processing zones” to create markets for farm produce and extend employment opportunities in the sector.

This would help lift people out of poverty and put them on a sustainable pathway towards economic growth, Adesina added.

He also told the conference that existing technology could also help improve farm yields and income in Africa but added that much of it was still “sitting on the shelves” and not being used.

“All Africa needs to do is to harness the available technologies with the right policies and rapidly raise agricultural productivity and incomes for farmers and assure lower food prices for consumers,” Adesina said.

The International Food Policy Research Institute has estimated that Africa will add 38 million to its number of hungry people by 2050 as a result of climate change. 

It forecasts that Africa will experience major food shortages by 2020 and beyond, while malnutrition will be on the rise over the next 20 years.