OPEC Fund supports agricultural integration in Togo with $10M loan

Agriculture

Monday, 25 October 2021 17:48

OPEC Fund supports agricultural integration in Togo with $10M loan

(Togo First) - Togo will get $10 million, in the form of loans, from the OPEC Fund for International Development to finance its agricultural integration under the Regional Program for the Integration of Agricultural Markets (PRIMA).

“The Program’s objective is to strengthen the agriculture and trade sectors to sustainably increase the income and food security of rural households,” the Fund wrote in a statement.

The loans should benefit around 45,000 households in Togo, “with a strong emphasis on creating jobs for women and youth.” The project is co-financed by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).

Togo will receive the loan alongside its neighbor, Benin. The latter will, however, get $15 million. In both countries, more than 833,000 people are expected to benefit from the facility.

OPEC Fund Director-General Dr. Abdulhamid Alkhalifa said: “In both of our partner countries Benin and Togo, agriculture has a high development impact potential, employing a significant percentage of the working population. We are pleased to support the governments’ efforts to transform their local agriculture sectors through diversification, increased productivity, and climate change resilience.”

In detail, the monies will be used to rehabilitate nine semi-wholesale markets, 19 produce collection centers, and 500 km of rural access road sections connecting the production areas to markets. Moreover, 4,000 ha of farming lands will be developed for sustainable irrigation management, enabling family farmers to increase their production and resilience to climate change.

The PRIMA, let’s recall, aims at improving the performance of sub-regional commercial centers and crossborder transport corridors, promoting rural entrepreneurship for youth and women, and fully integrating small farmers into local and regional markets.

Ayi Renaud Dossavi

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