AfDB donates US$20.55 million to Burundi

Burundi has received a donation of US$20.55 million from the African Development Bank (AfDB) to strengthen the food and nutrition security of 2.7 million people living in three provinces of the northern part of the country.

The Board of Directors of the AfDB granted the donation in Abidjan- La Cote D’Ivoire on November 25, 2020.

The Bank’s financial support to the ‘Support Project for the Sustainable Development of Agriculture and Livestock Value Chains in Burundi’ (PADCAE-B) consists of the first grant of $ 12.83 million, from the resources of the African Development Fund, the concessional window of the Bank and a second in the amount of $ 7.72 million from Pillar 1 of the Transition Support Facility (TAF).

The project, which is to be carried out over five years, between 2020 and 2025, notably provides for the rehabilitation of 1,390 hectares of marshes, the development of 3,024 hectares of watersheds, and the establishment of 800 hectares of hill irrigation and rainwater harvesting. 

The fight against the armyworm, support for the restoration and improvement of soil fertility (fertilizer), land certification, support for nutrition for 23,010 households and the purchase of 10,800 goats and 630 sows as well as the construction of a feed mill unit and a large capacity aquaculture hatchery are also among the activities of PADCAE-B. Likewise, the project integrates the objectives of the technologies program for the transformation of

The AfDB stated that to support the government in its vast reform program in the agricultural sector, seven communal agro-pastoral centers will be created and support will be provided for the structuring and professionalization of cooperatives by setting up 17-grain harvesters using solar energy. 

Also, the project will support the training of agro-seed multipliers, while ensuring the production and distribution of 3,000 seedlings of new export crops (macadamia and cashew nuts). 

The project, according to the AfDB, introduces an innovation by applying a digital monitoring and evaluation system which will allow information to be fed back from the field to the central level, thus facilitating real-time monitoring of the project. 

Finally, the project will help promote the entrepreneurship of 3,000 young people and women along with the various segments of the selected value chains and through training and the establishment of employability support funds.

The intervention area of ​​the PADCAE-B project includes the provinces of Kirundo, Muyinga, and Ngozi, in northern Burundi. It extends over eighteen hills spread across nine municipalities: in the province of Kirundo, Busoni, Vumbi, and Bwambarangwe; in the province of Ngozi, Gashikanwa, Kiremba, and Tangara; in the province of Muyinga, Giteranyi, Gasorwe, and Gashoho. These three provinces are among those with the highest densities in the country, with an estimate of 553 inhabitants per square kilometer.

The project will directly benefit 138,060 people, 56% of whom are women, and, indirectly, all 2,743,366 inhabitants of the three provinces, i.e. a quarter of the national population.

“By building on the development of grassroots communities and the use of technologies and systems resilient to climate change, and by promoting the employability of young people and women in the agricultural sector, PADCAE-B will help to consolidate the country’s resilience by creating the conditions for strong and inclusive growth, per the objectives of the government and the National Development Plan (2018-2027), supported by the Bank’s strategy in Burundi (CSP 2019-2023)”, said, Daniel Ndoye, Country Manager of the Bank in Burundi.  

As of June 30, 2020, the active portfolio of the African Development Bank in Burundi included 19 ongoing public sector projects, totaling a commitment of $ 387.39 million. The sectoral breakdown of the portfolio was as follows: transport (58.47%), agriculture (4.24%), energy (33.03%), social sector (3.24%), and multisector (1.02%).