2 others receive assistance for improved agric

The World Bank Board of Executive Directors on Thursday approved three International Development Association credits of a total $45 million in support of the first phase of the West Africa Agricultural Productivity Programme in Ghana, Mali and Senegal.

The three approved IDA credits will provide Ghana, Senegal and Mali with $15m each to generate and disseminate improved agricultural technology in their top priority areas that are aligned with regional priorities, as identified by the West and Central African Council for Agricultural Research. 

A statement issued in Accra on Friday by the World Bank said the three countries had committed to provide part of the credit proceeds for a total of three million dollars to CORAF to help coordinate the regional project.

It said the West Africa Agricultural Productivity Programme would generate and disseminate improved technologies in the participating countries focusing on roots and tubers in Ghana, rice in Mali and cereals in Senegal.

"The WAAPP will mainly focus on making agriculture more productive and sustainable and promote regional integration initiatives in the agricultural sector,” Mark Tomlinson, Director of the Regional Integration Department.

 “It reflects the Bank's commitment to Africa"s regional cooperation in agriculture and will be one of the Bank’s key contributions to the implementation of broadly supported agricultural strategies Africa-wide,” he said.

The statement said the food and cash crops whose production the WAAPP set out to boost provide the greatest contribution to the region’s agricultural growth and to producers’ incomes.

It said sustained productivity was critical if the region was to significantly raise agricultural yield, which are so important in meeting the Millennium Development Goal of halving extreme poverty by 2015.

“The region’s consumers, particularly those affected by extreme poverty, are the ultimate beneficiaries of the WAAPP. Agricultural producers and agribusinesses, as users of the improved technology, are the primary beneficiaries of the programme,” said Ismael Ouedraogo, the World Bank Task Team Leader of the Project.

The WAAPP is a sub-regional programme shared by all 15 member states of the Economic Community of West African States.  

Link to The Statesman : Business : Ghana, 2 others receive assistance for improved agric