BUSINESS REPORTER
A US$25.56m grant advanced by an African Development Bank’s (AfDB) concessional arm will distribute seed and fertilisers to 180000 beneficiaries to help Zimbabwe enhance domestic food production and supply.
The funds were drawn from the African Development Fund’s Transition Support Facility with the AfDB board providing a waiver to assist Zimbabwe to mitigate against a possible food crisis.
Zimbabwe is in debt and in arrears and therefore is ineligible for Transition Support Facility resources, AfDB said.
The project will be implemented at community and national levels to support farmers to raise food production to mitigate the impact of inadequate rainfall during the last growing season and the Russia-Ukraine conflict, on food prices in the short term and build longer-term food security.
It falls under the AfDB’s US$1.5bn Emergency Food Production Facility, a response to the global crisis that has deepened shortages in many African countries. In Zimbabwe, it will focus on key agricultural commodities, namely wheat, maize, and oilseeds, including soybeans and sunflower, in line with the commodities impacted by the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
“This $25.65 million project aims to mitigate the food insecurity situation in Zimbabwe, which results from a poor agriculture season due to rainfall deficits and the impacts of the Russia/Ukraine conflict. The conflict has contributed to a sharp rise in commodity prices, including food and farm inputs, such as fertiliser and seed,” said Leila Mokaddem, AfDB’s director general for southern Africa.
“This project is in line with the Bank’s Zimbabwe strategy to support the private sector and agriculture productivity and sustainability as well as developing related value chains,” Mokaddem said.
