The Board of Directors of the African Development Fund (ADF) on Wednesday in Tunis approved a loan and a grant amounting to UA 35 million, equivalent to US$ 51.9 million to finance the Multinational Support Project for the Cotton/textile sector in the four countries of the Cotton Initiative (C.I) namely, Benin, Burkina Faso, Mali and Chad.
The project, which covers all the traditional seed cotton production areas aims to contribute to rural poverty reduction and raise the incomes of sector stakeholders by ensuring sustainable productivity improvement in the cotton sub-sector.
The main project activities are : (i) the setting-up of a regional framework for scientific cooperation and sharing of genetic material by the 4 (four) agricultural research institutes; (ii) the training of operators and technicians in the different cotton sector trades at the regional training center (CERFITEX); (iii) consolidation of the negotiation skills of the African Regional Association of Cotton Farmers; (iv) carrying out of two studies on the input supply and cotton lint marketing system; and (v) the establishment of a sectoral database and its connection to the other four national databases.
The project is in line with the poverty reduction strategies of the four CI countries and is based on the decisions of the WTO and the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) and Chad a Member the Central African Economic and Monetary Community (CEMAC) Competitiveness Improvement Agenda aimed at protecting and raising the incomes of cotton farmers. It will help to protect the incomes of more than 900,000 farmers and benefit a population of close to 10 million people in the four countries, of which more than half are women. At full operation, the project will generate an extra 1.84 million tons of cotton, 654,000 tons of maize, 240,500 tons of sorghum and 192,000 tons of millet. It will have a positive effect on the environment through the adoption of good farming practices (GFP).
The total project cost, net of taxes, is estimated at CFA.F 29.74 billion, or UA 38.97 million. The project will be financed by the ADF loan of UA 28 million (72%) and an ADF grant of UA 7 million (18%), representing 89% of total project costs and a contribution from participating countries and beneficiaries of UA 3.97million, representing 10% of total project costs.
Project Brief
PROJECT NAME: Multinational Support Project for the Cotton/textile sector in the four countries of the Cotton Initiative
PROJECT AREA: Cotton-growing regions in the four countries
BORROWERS: The Republics of Benin, Burkina Faso and Mali
DONEES: Chad and WAEMU
EXECUTING AGENCY: Ministries of Agriculture in the four participating countries en collaboration with WAEMU
TOTAL PROJECT COSTS: UA 38.97 million
Financing
ADF: UA 28.00 million
ADF grant : UA 7.00 million
Four countries and Beneficiaries: UA 3.97 million
ESTIMATED START-UP DATE AND DURATION OF PROJECT: June 2007 (5 years)
CONSULTANCY SERVICES REQUIRED: Studies, control and surveillance of certain works (roads, warehouses, rural markets), community guidance, organization and structuring of associations and groups, training, setting-up of an accounting system and a monitoring/evaluation system, annual audits, mid-term reviews.
* 1 UC = 764,682 FCFA = 1,48004 $EU = 1,16575 Euro as at 29/11/2006
CONTACT: Magatte Wade Tel : +216 71 10 22 44 E-mail : m.wade@afdb.org
