WASHINGTON, August 30, 2019 – The World Bank approved today an International Development Association (IDA)* credit of $200 million to Burkina Faso to increase agricultural productivity and market access for small producers and agribusiness small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
The Agriculture Resilience and Competitiveness Project will benefit the smallholder crop farmers, processors, traders and marketers for selected value chains in project areas. The project will also give preferential treatment to women and youth, particularly in agriculture training and services, as well as funding of investment initiatives. These include mango drying and shea nut collection and processing.
“The project is aligned with the World Bank Group Country Partnership Framework and our priorities related to poverty reduction and climate change mitigation and adaptation,” said Cheick Kanté, World Bank Country Manager for Burkina Faso. “Particularly, it will help improve agriculture productivity and competitiveness of agri-food value chains.”
This project will fill three main gaps of the agriculture sector, infrastructure, public agriculture services and financing. It will improve access to irrigation services, the connection of production areas to markets and provide support to producers through strengthened agriculture advisory services, and access to finance for private sector initiatives.
“Through this project, provision of irrigation and drainage services is expected to provide a major boost to the yields of the selected crops and achieve a quantum difference in the level of production,” said Nicolas Ahouissoussi and Juvenal Nzambimana, co-Task Team Leaders for the project.
It is aligned with the World Bank Group’s goals of ending extreme poverty and boosting shared prosperity, and with the country’s national economic and social development plan for the period 2016-2020, which places high importance on the structural transformation of the economy with agriculture playing the key role as a driver of inclusive growth.
* The World Bank’s International Development Association (IDA), established in 1960, helps the world’s poorest countries by providing grants and low to zero-interest loans for projects and programs that boost economic growth, reduce poverty, and improve poor people’s lives. IDA is one of the largest sources of assistance for the world’s 75 poorest countries, 39 of which are in Africa. Resources from IDA bring positive change to the 1.5 billion people who live in IDA countries. Since 1960, IDA has supported development work in 113 countries. Annual commitments have averaged about $18 billion over the last three years, with about 54 percent going to Africa.
