AfDB Grants Senegal €121m Loan To Boost Food Production

(AFRICAN EXAMINER) – African Development Bank (AfDB) has approved a €121 million loan to Senegal for implementation of an emergency agricultural programme that will boost food production and cushion impacts of war in Ukraine.

This loan is the first approved under the AfDB’s $1.5 billion African Emergency Food Production Facility, an initiative to avert a looming food crisis exacerbated by the war in Ukraine.

On May 20, the Bank approved the Facility, which will provide agricultural seeds to 20 million African farmers. The goal is to produce over the next two years an additional 38 million tons of food, primarily wheat, maize, rice and soybeans worth $12 billion.

The Emergency Food Production Programme has three components which include improving access to certified seeds and advisory support; strengthening farmers’ access to fertilizers; and enhancing governance and implementation of public policies in the agricultural sector.

The loan which will enable Senegal to maintain its upward trend in cereal production observed in recent years, will benefit 850,000 small farmers, 35 percent of whom are women.

Under the first component, the programme will help provide 7000 tonnes of cereal seeds, 3000 tonnes of cowpea seeds and 15,000 tonnes of seed potatoes to farmers.

In addition, a partnership agreement between the Senegalese Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Equipment and the Senegalese Institute of Agricultural Research will facilitate a supply of pre-basic seeds.

This will enable at least 850 seed multipliers, 25 percent of them women, to receive pre-basic seeds. As a result, roughly 350,000 additional hectares will be cultivated to produce about 600,000 tonnes of cereals (rice, maize, and millet), 120,000 tonnes of cowpea and 150,000 tonnes of potatoes.

The second component of the project will support procurement of 118,000 additional tonnes of fertilizer in 2022 and 2023. This component will also support the undertaking of a diagnostic study to overhaul the fertilizer distribution system and improve the subsidy program for agricultural inputs.

Moreover, the pilot phase of an initiative to digitize inputs will target 20 percent of fertilizer beneficiaries, 35 percent of whom are women.

The third component will entail an assessment and updating of the country’s Agro-Sylvo Pastoral Policy Law (2004-2025); the Letter of Agricultural Development Sector Policy (LPSDA 2019-2023); validation of the Agricultural Programme for Food Sovereignty and Sustainability (2021-2025); and preparation of a national index/climate insurance programme.

AfDB’s Country Manager for Senegal, Mohamed Chérif said Senegal’s dependence on the outside world for basic commodities and foodstuffs is a real bottleneck and poses a threat to the country’s food sovereignty, which has been sharpened by the war in Ukraine.

“This operation is intended to mitigate exogenous financial, economic, social and climate shocks and to maintain the upward trend in cereal production seen in recent years, especially by focusing efforts on the availability of key inputs including seeds and fertilizers to producers”, he added.

As of 30 April 2022, the Bank’s active portfolio in Senegal comprised 30 projects with a total value of €2.37 billion.