World Bank arm, the International Development Association, has approved a US$55-million grant to support the Mozambican government’s Smallholder Irrigated Agriculture and Market Access Project that aims to improve rural livelihoods through increased productivity, production, and access to markets.
The World Bank said in a statement on Sunday that the project will target farmers in the four provinces of Manica, Nampula, Sofala, and Zambezia, all of which endowed with significant agricultural potential.
“I believe this new investment and others such as in rural infrastructure, landscape management will ultimately result in an economy that is more inclusive, broad-based, and sustainable,” said Mark Lundell, World Bank country director for Mozambique, Madagascar, Mauritius, Seychelles and Comoros.
The project is expected to directly benefit 9,000 smallholder farmers from poor households in a country where only about 2.5 percent of the country’s cultivated land is irrigated.
It will invest in capacity building for farmers on improved agricultural practices, technologies, inputs and marketing, functional literacy, nutrition, and irrigation infrastructure management to ensure long-term sustainability of agriculture.
The project will also include capacity building for government staff and skills development programs for service providers, including non-governmental organisations involved in the provision of agriculture services.
– APA
