Tanzania is among the five countries in Africa set to benefit from fertilizer incentives, following an agreement between the Fund for African Private Sector Assistance (FAPA) and the African Fertilizer and Agribusiness Partnership (AFAP).
The agreement will see a release of $1 million which is expected to help increase affordability, accessibility and incentives for fertilizer use among smallholder farmers in Africa and expand the supply and distribution of fertilizer by leveraging investments.
The five African countries have been selected to benefit from this partnership include: Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Mozambique, Nigeria and Tanzania. This initiative complements the Bank’s strategy for transforming agriculture value chains in Regional Member Countries and strengthening private enterprises. It also helps improve access to finance for blending companies and joint ventures in the agriculture sector. It will enhance distribution through agriculture input systems with agro-dealer networks in the targeted countries.
It is also intended to create over 1,000 jobs for women and youth. AFAP, the grantee, will match the FAPA grant, according to a statement sent to newsrooms.
“This project is very much in line with the Feed Africa strategy of the African Development Bank. It will promote greater local supply of fertilizer to farmers thereby increasing productivity, which is central to the transformation of value chains,” Jennifer Blanke, the African Development Bank’s Vice-President for Agriculture, Human and Social Development, said.
“Agriculture is one of the five priority areas of the Bank. In Sub-Saharan Africa, 60% of the population lives in rural areas, while the proportion of agriculture in GDP is less than 20%,” said Soichiro Imaeda, Parliamentary Vice Minister for Finance in Japan, one of donors to FAPA.
“Improving agricultural productivity is an urgent issue in achieving sustainable economic growth in Africa. We hope that this project will be effectively utilized and that farmers’ access to fertilizer will expand and agricultural productivity will increase in the five target African countries including Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Mozambique, Nigeria and Tanzania.”
“Today’s grant agreement is not just about improving the productivity of smallholder farmers in Africa; it also encourages local supply and utilization of fertilizer in Africa. We’ll continue, through FAPA, to support agriculture finance projects in Africa,” Olivier Eweck, Director of the Syndication, Co-financing and Technical Solutions Department at the Bank, and Chair of the FAPA Technical Committee said.
