Mens Danida og VKs Afrika-kommision i stigende grad fravælger landbrugssektoren, har Verdensbanken torsdag godkendt at investere 82 millioner US dollar i øget produktivitet og økonomisk opbygning hos Kenyas småbønder.
Projektet har titlen Kenya Agricultural Productivity and Agribusiness Project og beskrives i en pressemeddelelse fra Verdensbanken som en støtte til et varieret og økonomisk bæredygtigt landbrug i Kenya:
The Kenya Agricultural Productivity and Agribusiness Project will assist Kenya to diversify its agriculture, add value and deepen linkages to markets. It will also promote public private partnerships in service delivery and agribusiness.
The new project will consolidate and scale up the gains achieved through the Kenya Agricultural Productivity Project, which supported agricultural research, extension and empowerment of farmers. The 40 million dollar Bank funded program closed in December 2008.
– With this new investment, Kenyan farmers will be able to increase their production and value-addition in agriculture outputs and to strengthen agribusiness development in line with the Governments Vision 2030, says Johannes Zutt, the WB Country Director for Kenya.
– The Bank is committed to supporting Kenya not only by increasing agricultural production to deal with the global food crisis, but also by adding value to agricultural output for higher incomes, employment and enhanced food security, he adds.
The strategic focus of the new program will be to promote sector-wide approaches in line with Kenyas development priorities that include the Agricultural Sector Development Strategy (ASDS) for agricultural sector growth and poverty reduction.
Performance in this sector – which is projected to grow by 5-7 percent a year – directly affects the poor, as two-thirds of the population and 80 percent of the poor live in rural areas, where they derive their livelihoods on agriculture and related activities.
– Farmers will be encouraged to diversify into high value on and off farm activities to strengthen the Governments strategy for reducing rural poverty, says Andrew Karanja, the Projects Task Team Leader.
– It will also enable the Government, development partners and other agencies involved in the agricultural sector to better coordinate financing and implementation of extension and other advisory services, notes he.
The Government will contribute an additional 14,1 million dollar to the new program, while the project beneficiaries who number around 250.000 households, will contribute 2,3 million in form of their labor and materials.
The project is linked to the East Africa Agricultural Productivity Program – a 90 million dollar project aimed at strengthening regional cooperation in the generation of technology, training and dissemination of dairy, cassava, rice and wheat.
Under this program, Ethiopia, Kenya, and Tanzania will each be allocated 30 million dollar.
It is also linked to the Kenya Agricultural Productivity and Sustainable Land Management Project financed by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) to facilitate agricultural producers in three important catchment areas to adopt environmentally sound land management practices.
In April, the Bank provided an emergency grant of 5 million dollar under its Global Food Crisis Response Program to assist Kenya deal with significant food shortfalls due to the impact of the current drought in the country, high input prices and the global financial crisis.
For more information about the World Bank in Kenya, please visit www.worldbank.org/Kenya
Kilde: Verdensbankens website
