The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) has earmarked $1.3 billion to support agriculture in Africa and reduce post-harvest losses over the next three years, Gilbert Houngbo, president of IFAD said.
Houngbo made this know while speaking to journalists at the just concluded African Green Revolution Forum in Kigali, Rwanda.
“IFAD will spend 50 per cent of the $3.5 billion budgeted for agriculture in Africa and expected to increase by 10 per cent from 2019 to 2020. Our goal is to reduce Africa’s food post-harvest losses by 20 per cent,” Houngo said.
“The situation of Africa’s agriculture is improving and we need to move from subsistent agriculture to agribusiness and that is in line with what IFAD is doing. Seventy per cent of IFAD financing has been on the value chain and not only on production,” he said.
He estimated Africa’s food post-harvest loss to cost about $4billion annually and stated that the target of the institution is to reduce it by 20 per cent.
According to him, the investment covers the entire value chain, from production, farmers training on good agricultural practices and processing, as well as market linkages.
IFAD has its presence all across Africa and is investing in rural people by empowering them to increase their food security, improve the nutrition of their families and increase their incomes, the international financial institution said on its website.
In Africa, IFAD has partnered with various governments for an alliance to drive the development of agriculture on the continent and improve the livelihood of smallholder farmers.
In Nigeria, the institution focused on the maize and rice and is working with cooperatives across the entire value chain of the two crops.
Since the establishment of the IFAD projects, it has help increase the productivity of thousands of maize and rice smallholder farmers in the country and improve their livelihood as well as rural economies.
Josephine Okojie
