Congo: African Development Bank grants additional $ 8 million loan for agricultural value chains

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The project also aims to increase maize yields from 1.5 to 3.5 tonnes per hectare on at least 2,500 hectares, with a production cost reduced by about 25%.

The Board of Directors of the African Development Bank (www.AfDB.org) on ​​Wednesday March 24 in Abidjan granted additional funding of US $ 8 million to Congolese government to cover part of the costs of the Project for the Integrated Development of Agricultural Value Chains in Congo (PRODIVAC).

Bank financing consists of a grant of two million dollars and a loan of six million dollars from the resources of the Strategic Climate Fund-Forestry Investment Program (FSC / FIP). It will be devoted to the implementation of the sub-component "Promotion of community agroforestry" consisting of three components: building the technical and operational capacities of communities, support for land tenure security and the development of plantations.

Congo has four types of soils characterized by high acidity and low fertility, one of the main obstacles small farmers face in increasing their yields. In order to solve this problem, the practice of agroforestry, using trees as an agent of soil fertilization, especially legumes, represents an alternative to reduce the use of chemical fertilization.

This activity will help achieve the expected results of the project in terms of increasing cassava yields from ten to twenty tons per hectare on at least 7,500 hectares, with a production cost reduced by around 30%. The project also aims to increase maize yields from 1.5 to 3.5 tonnes per hectare on at least 2,500 hectares, with a production cost reduced by about 25%. The production of firewood will also have to increase to supply the Brazzaville basin with an annual demand estimated at nearly one million cubic meters in 2023.

As a reminder, the Board of Directors of the African Development Bank approved, on November 22, 2019, a first loan of $ 87.1 million for the benefit of the Republic of Congo to set up this project. Its execution, scheduled to last until 2025, will cover the corridors of the major marketing centers of Brazzaville and Pointe Noire as well as the production basins in the departments of Plateaux, Pool, Bouenza, Cuvette and Niari.

Some 355,000 people, 40% of whom are women and 40% young people in the various links of the targeted agricultural value chains, are affected by PROVIDAC's interventions.

About the African Development Bank Group:

The African Development Bank Group is the premier development finance institution in Africa. It comprises three distinct entities: the African Development Bank (AfDB), the African Development Fund (ADF) and the Nigeria Trust Fund (NTF). Represented in 41 African countries, with an external office in Japan, the Bank contributes to the economic development and social progress of its 54 regional member states.

Cassien Tribunal Aungane, Editor

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