African governments should mobilize sustainable resources to finance agriculture in their countries to meetthe growingfood needs of their people, senior AU officials said.

Standing on the sidelines of the ongoing 36th African Union (AU) summit, the AU’s Commissioner forAgriculture, RuralDevelopment, Blue Economy and Sustainable Environment, Josefa Sacco, toldreporters on Friday that Africa’s leadersdeclaration of commitment made in 2014, acting in Malabo.

“We have to invest. We have to raise his 10% of the state budget. 10% means agriculture, animalhusbandry, fisheriesdevelopment and crops. It’s about rural development,” she said.

Sacco said the AU has raised the perception that most AU member states have not invested her 10% oftheir nationalbudgets in agriculture and that she is “off course”. “They (African countries) are not investing.They are not incorporatingtheir national development plans and national investment plans into a commonAfrican policy.”

Noting that one in four people in Africa was suffering from severe hunger in 2021 when the COVID-19pandemicdevastated the continent, the commissioner said African countries could and emphasized thatpeople need to invest at least$10 to feed themselves during difficult times. percent of the nationalbudget.