The Board of Directors of the African Development Fund has approved $12.16 million in additional grant funding for the Rice Agro-Industrial Cluster Project in Sierra Leone.
The project was first approved in November 2021. The new tranche, to be sourced from the 2022 Performance-based Allocation, will fill a funding gap in the project’s total cost of nearly $37 million.
In addition to bringing the country toward rice self-sufficiency, the project is improving the livelihoods of rural households by extending quality inputs, land and water management, mechanization and extension services to farmers to increase rice production. The project is also improving the value chain through rice processing and promoting the consumption and marketing of locally processed rice.
In July 2022, the African Development Bank approved a grant of $1.92 million to boost food production in Sierra Leone under its African Emergency Food Production Facility (https://bit.ly/3wGWi3O), a response to a looming global food crisis that resulted from the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of African Development Bank Group (AfDB).
Media Contact:
Olufemi Terry
African Development Bank Group
media@afdb.org
Technical contact:
Mark Eghan
Principal Agricultural Economist
About the African Development Bank Group:
The African Development Bank Group (AfDB) is Africa’s premier development finance institution. It comprises three distinct entities: the African Development Bank (AfDB), the African Development Fund (ADF) and the Nigeria Trust Fund (NTF). On the ground in 44 African countries with an external office in Japan, the AfDB contributes to the economic development and the social progress of its 54 regional member states. For more information: www.AfDB.org
