The African Development Bank Group (AfDB) has approved a $63 million loan (Ksh 7.5 billion) to boost its cereal and oilseed production.
The loan is part of the African Development Bank’s $1.5 billion African Emergency Food Production Facility, an Africa-wide initiative to avert a looming food crisis exacerbated by the war in Ukraine.
The loan will support the country’s Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Cooperatives (MoALFC). It will enable the government to provide affordable fertiliser and seeds to farmers ahead of the October-December 2022 short rains and into the 2022/2023 long rains crop production season.
Dr Beth Dunford, the Bank’s Vice President for Agriculture, Human and Social Development, said the successful implementation of the credit facility would see some 650,000 farmers as direct beneficiaries, resulting in the production of 1.5 million tonnes of cereals and oilseeds.
“The Facility will positively impact some 2.8 million people,” she said.
The project entails the delivery of certified seeds, fertilisers and agricultural extension to 650,000 farmers to boost productivity. An e-voucher system will ensure that subsidies for inputs are “smart”.
Another project component will provide trade finance guarantees and leverage the private sector to ensure sufficient fertiliser volumes are available to farmers.
In addition to boosting staple food availability, the project targets smallholder farmers and is expected to benefit women and youth.
“The government is looking into ways and means of addressing the cost of ‘unga’ (maise flour) to bring it down so that consumers can afford it,” said Peter Munya, Cabinet Secretary for the MoALFC.
