Yellen visits Zambian farm to showcase Africa’s ag potential

By FATIMA HUSSEIN
Associated Press

CHONGWE, Zambia (AP) — U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has visited sites in rural and urban Zambia to showcase Africa’s potential to help solve the world’s problems with food shortages. Yellen is midway through a 10-day tour of Africa. She devoted her day to highlighting the agricultural investment potential of underdeveloped African nations, especially as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has exacerbated worldwide hunger and the cost of food. On a farm in a rural village, Yellen’s message was that even as the world tackles acute needs, it must “take a longer view and scale up investment” for long-term food supplies. She says “Africa is a perfect example” of those two challenges. In Zambia, roughly 2 million people face acute food insecurity.