New Delhi: Bharti Enterprises chief Sunil Bharti Mittal, Chair of B20 India Action Council on African Economic Integration on Friday said that Africa’s arable, uncultivated and fertile land can offer solutions to the food crisis and adopting Africa as a place to do agriculture can potentially change the world. Expressing hope, he also said that Africa’s economic integration is gaining momentum, and the Africa Union will soon become a permanent member of G20 as the African voice in G20 is ‘absolutely important’.
“Sixty per cent of the world's arable and yet uncultivated land is in Africa. Today, we have all seen the crisis that the world is going through on food production. Just adopt Africa as a place to do agriculture, perhaps some value added agriculture...The entire world can change,” he said while speaking at B20 Summit India 2023.
Describing Africa as the last continent of hope, Mittal also said that it is one of the most populous young continents around the globe, but equally one of the most backward parts of the world. “It really needs to get attention, and I’m glad that India will be taking leadership in this particular area. Land in parts of the African continent is so fertile that you just throw seeds and crops will grow, the land is so fertile there, and yet even that is not being done,” he said.
“Five, ten per cent of the total of sixty per cent of uncultivated land can dramatically alter the food chain and food ecosystem of the world. In my own opinion, India’s focus this time in G20 to direct energies towards Africa is the right one,” he said.
