AfDB approves $63m grant to boost food security, reduce poverty in Ghana, other African countries

The African Development Bank (AfDB) has approved a $63.24 million for the implementation of a five-year research-for-development initiative to enhance food and nutrition security and contribute to poverty reduction in the Bank’s low- income Regional Member Countries (RMCs) including Ghana.

The AfDB’s other low-income RMCs are Kenya, Benin Republic, Cote d’Ivoire, DR Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Lesotho, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

This is under the multi-Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) Center project dubbed “Support to Agricultural Research for Development of Strategic Crops in Africa” (SARD-SC).

The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), which is the Executing Agency of the project, said in its news outlet, the Bulletin, that the notice of the grant approval was received by its Director General Nteranya Sanginga on March 2, 2012 after it was signed by Dougou Keita, Manager of Agriculture and Agro-Industry Division 2 of the AfDB.

“The project is expected to contribute towards addressing the current shortfall in food supply in these countries and beyond by working across the full value chain of each crop and addressing both food costs and employment creation,” the CGIAR said in a statement.

The project will run until 2016. The Africa Rice Center, the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas and the International Food Policy Research Institute are providing assistance to the project.

By Ekow Quandzie