$17 million: Endorsed by the AfDB Board of Directors to the Islamic Republic of Mauritania to carry out the Project for Promotion of Gender-Sensitive Agricultural Value Chains and Women’s Entrepreneurship

By Abdul Rahman Bangura-

NEW AFRICA DAILY NEWS (NADN) Freetown, Sierra Leone– This project is subsidized under the Global Agriculture and Food Security Programme (GAFSP) and strives to boost productivity and sum up the value of agrarian yields to increase women’s revenue and help female entrepreneurship in Mauritania. The project is a component of the Programme Support Agricultural Transportation in Mauritania which operates to acclimate to climate change and foster inclusion.

“This project is an important lever for agricultural transformation in Mauritania. It will help to empower the country’s women by supporting their work in the vegetable production and packaging industry. It will create local market garden production centers and irrigation basins that operate throughout the year, preventing production disruptions at national level,” Malinne Blomberg – the Bank’s Country Manager for Mauritania remarked.

The project will concoct contemporary market gardening plots organized by women (1,014 hectares divided into 321 small modular plots between two and four hectares each) as well as 4,500 hectares of improved drainage basins.

Better efficient usage of farming produce will be made feasible by creating and preparing 12 multi-purpose, internet-connected centers for the promotion of female employment, two vegetable packaging and storage units, and six local vegetable markets. The program is concentrated on enabling entrepreneurial culture amongst women (creation of innovative start-ups, backing for young entrepreneurs, training, etc). It contains capacity-building for actors in the market-gardening value chain, support for women’s organizations (including 205 women’s market-gardening cooperatives), and the establishment of 12 agrarian savings and loan associations.

The project will be carried out in 12 districts of the Brakna and Trarza regions. These are among the most weak in Mauritania where the condition of women is extremely treacherous. The project will literally benefit up to 22,200 households and will have an indirect consequence on nearly 90,000 people. It will assist in improving food security and bolster the stability of households, especially women and young people, through innovative and efficient irrigation systems, greater usage of solar energy, agricultural transformation, access to markets, and boosting of value chains.

New Africa Daily News Abdul Rahman Bangura Reports, Africa Correspondent