The World Food Prize is awarded yearly for a specific and exceptionally significant contribution to the production or distribution of food. This year’s “Nobel Prize of Agriculture” was awarded to Akinwumi Adesina, a former Nigerian agriculture minister – and currently the president of the African Development Bank – for his contributions to increasing productivity in Nigeria’s agricultural sector. Adesina pioneered the E-Wallet, which introduced a new way for the Nigerian government to deliver subsidized farm inputs, such as fertilizer and seeds, to local farmers through private agro-dealers. In the past, such subsidized inputs would have bypassed the farmers and fallen into the hands of black marketers who would have sold the inputs on the open market or in neighboring countries. According to the World Food Prize, through the E-wallet Adesina succeeded in breaking the “back of corrupt elements that had controlled the fertilizer distribution system for 40 years.” Read more http://allafrica.com/stories/201711170604.html Photo credit: Nigeria’s Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development
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