Le mercredi 20 novembre 2024, le Abidjan, the Board of Directors of the African Development Fund approved an initial financing of 99.16 million US dollars. This funding will make it possible to develop regional rice-growing value chains within the framework of a Project

The Project to Develop Resilient Regional Rice Value Chains in West Africa aims to strengthen food security and sovereignty in West Africa. It will promote public and private investments in rice value chains to increase the region's rice self-sufficiency by 2030. ADF funding is intended for the first group of beneficiaries, which includes Gambia and Guinea-Bissau, at the national level, as well as the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the African Rice Center (AfricaRice), at the regional level. This financing will be provided in the form of separate grants of $15.95 million, $43.88 million and $19.94 million, from the African Development Bank Group's loan window at preferential rates. A fourth grant from the Bank, worth $19.39 million, comes from the Transition Support Facility, a Bank mechanism designed to support the resilience of the continent's most fragile countries

Ce project will also increase rice production and productivity as well as the income generated for farmers, especially women and young people. It will also increase the resilience and adaptive capacities of rice farms and production systems in the face of climate change as well as the processing, marketing and intraregional trade of rice