AfDB grants US$27 million loan to develop agricultural value chains in Madagascar
Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire (PANA) - The Board of Directors of the African Development Bank (AfDB) on Tuesday approved a loan of US$ 27 million to Madagascar to enable it to develop agricultural value chains in its southwestern part.
This funding is intended for the implementation of the Development Project of the agro-industrial processing zone in the southwestern region of Madagascar (PTASO), an initiative that could be duplicated at the national level to ensure better processing of agricultural products.
The project not only aims to reverse the trend of repeated poor agricultural and economic performance, but it must also provide a response to the consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic, according to the AfDB media channel.
The PTASO, which will be implemented over five years from 2021, should make it possible to promote agricultural value chains, in particular those of rice, cape peas, corn, fishery products and small ruminants, through the development of infrastructure. and encouraging the private sector to support industrial transformation.
It said that several activities will be financed, including the establishment of basic infrastructure for the agro-industrial platform in Toliara and the agribusiness center in Tandadave; improving agricultural production infrastructure (irrigated perimeters, aquaculture farms, etc.) and marketing (storage stores, trails, etc.); capacity building for actors in agro-industrial sectors (state services, producer organizations).
These actions will result in the creation of wealth and jobs, the improvement of food security and the reduction of chronic malnutrition in southwestern Madagascar.
The PTASO will cover nearly 83,000 hectares of the "red island". It will have concrete consequences for the daily lives of 152,000 direct beneficiaries and 460,000 indirect beneficiaries, of which around 54.7% are women.
Ultimately, it must make up for the development gap in the southwestern region of Madagascar, which has six districts and 81 communes, with an area of 45,000 km² and a population of around 1,372,000 inhabitants (2017 figure). , nearly 76% of whom live in rural areas.
"This project consolidates the Bank's investments in the southwest region, in particular the RN9 road, the Trade Facilitation Corridor and the 23,000 ha of hydro-agricultural developments considered as models of structuring projects in Madagascar", explained the head of the Country Office, Cherif Mouhamed.
-0- PANA VAO 30Sept2020
