The African Development Bank (AfDB) is hosting its annual meeting this week in Maputo, Mozambique.  The Ministerial Round Table Discussions is the key event of the Annual Meetings Seminars, taking place a day before the formal opening of the Bank Group Annual Meetings. The theme of this year’s plenary session is “Fostering Shared Growth: Urbanization, Inequalities and Poverty in Africa.”   

As concerns mount about the impact of rising food prices on Africa’s poor, particularly its urban poor, AfDB reported today that: 

Strong urban economies form the base of the wealth of many nations. Yet over the last half century, Africa has experienced rapid urban growth, even as long-term economic growth has remained stagnant, and even declined in some decades. It is estimated that the continent’s cities and towns will absorb another 12-13 million people in 2008, with the urban population outpacing rural population from about 2035. While inequalities between cities and the countryside appear to be narrowing, the differences between the rich and the poor are becoming more conspicuous as unhealthy, overcrowded slums grow. More than 250 million people—or around 60% of the urban population—live precariously in these settlements, and, if present trends continue, the number of slum dwellers will grow to over 350 million by 2020.

The AfDB also reported that:

In his speech at the plenary session, AfDB President, Donald Kaberuka, highlighted the difference between urban and rural poverty, explaining that while majority of Africans living below the poverty datum were rural dwellers, the living conditions of the urban poor were dire and remained a major challenge to development and urbanization, as demonstrated by recent food riots in some African cities and beyond.

 “Our determination to fight poverty everywhere must be, and is an inclusive one. It targets all those who are part of the “bottom million” and these include the urban poor,” Mr. Kaberuka said, noting that internal migration to urban areas would increase rather than decrease.

This week's AfDB meeting comes on the heels of another conference held in Austria last week on "Forging a Uniquely African Green Revolution." In addressing the conference,   Kofi Annan, former Secretary-General of United Nations (UN) expressed concern over the impact of the ‘world food crisis’ on Africa.  He warned that the unfolding food crisis:

.....may roll-back the progress that has been achieved by African countries in the last decade.The solution to the food crisis in Africa today is to stimulate a domestic supply response to raise food production. If ever there was a time for an African Green Revolution, it is now. The time for talk is over. We must implement immediate solutions for today’s crisis, and do so in the context of a long-term concerted effort to transform smallholder agriculture, to increase productivity and sustainability, and end poverty and hunger.