World Bank To Assist Guinea-Bissau In Expanding Agriculture Sector

The World Bank Board of Executive Directors has approved an US$8.2 million credit from the International Development Association (IDA)  to help Guinea-Bissau create jobs and combat food insecurity and poverty by expanding the country’s cashew agribusiness, increasing the supply of rice production, and supporting entrepreneurship in other sectors of the economy.

Today’s IDA credit supports the Private Sector Rehabilitation and Agribusiness Development Project, and aims to boost economic growth while enhancing shared prosperity.  “Guinea-Bissau once supplied neighboring countries with rice and is the third largest producer of cashew in the world” said Vera Songwe, World Bank Country Director for Guinea-Bissau.

She said, “By focusing on the key gaps inhibiting growth in agribusiness, today’s project will help to rebuild the sector’s potential, stimulate growth, and enable small-holder farmers to raise their incomes and yields, while also creating jobs for young people and raising incomes for women.”  Cashew is the country’s most important agricultural product and is grown by close to 55 percent of all farming households.

Source: AFK Insider