ADF approves US $36 million for agriculture, rural development

The African Development Fund, the soft loan arm of the African Development Bank, has approved US $36 million to support the development and restructuring of the agriculture and rural sectors in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the Fund reported on Wednesday. Of the total funding, $26 million is a loan and $10 million a grant. The Fund reported that the money would be used to rebuild the "sociological infrastructure" of the agriculture and rural sectors. This would involve the rebuilding of logistics, restructuring of the government ministries responsible for rural development and providing funding for national agricultural studies and research. The western provinces of Bas-Congo and Bandundu were chosen as "priority intervention areas in view of their high poverty level" the Fund said. It added that these provinces were strategically important as they accounted for approximately 25 percent of the country's annual agricultural production. War and insecurity over the past decade had greatly reduced the effectiveness of the agriculture sector, it added, with major production areas being often isolated from the cities. The Fund reported that as a result of the war, there were few organised marketing channels for farmers to sell their produce. This has resulted in food insecurity; lower agricultural productivity; and a food deficit of between 20 percent and 32 percent, it added.