AfDB assures Gabon to provide all support in developing agricultural infrastructure

The African Development Bank has assured to provide total support to Gabon for the GRAINE Phase 1 Support Project (PAPG 1) during a recent ceremony in Libreville.

The African Development Bank is all set to provide economic and social financing support in the fields of water, electricity, health and agricultural infrastructure. The PAPG 1 intends to provide greater food security to fight youth unemployment, to enhance economic diversification, in particular by making the country self-sufficient in food products and net exporter of palm oil from here to 2023.

In practice, it will be implemented over five years and will reach an estimated 500,000 people, 45 percent of whom are women. It includes the agricultural development of 10,000 hectares of food crops and 10,500 hectares of oil palm plantations in six provinces of Gabon. More than 500 young people and women will be supported as part of the project to start their own business in the area of ​​intervention, in relation with the activities of PAPG 1.

The deputy director general of the African Development Bank for Central Africa, Racine Kane said that the Bank's support to PAPG 1 includes 'two complementary streams'. The public component with a cost of 98.5 million euros, is intended to finance, in the areas concerned and for the benefit of the cooperators and their families, economic and social investments such as the drinking water, rural electrification, schools and health centers as well as supporting agricultural infrastructure (rural roads, rural markets, warehouses ...). On the other hand, the private component is being negotiated between the Bank and the Gabonese authorities. In particular, it will be responsible for the management of industrial and food lands, plantations and the construction of palm oil processing plants.

"I would like to commend the Gabonese government's renewed confidence in the Bank, by requesting our participation in the financing of the GRAINE program, which is, in our view, an important step for the national authorities towards the process of diversification of the country's economy", said at the ceremony, Racine Kane, in the presence of the Prime Minister of Gabon, Julien Nkoghe Békalé, the Minister of Economy, Roger Owono Mba, the Minister of Agriculture, Biendi Maganga Moussouvou, and seven other members government, as well as heads of diplomatic missions and representatives of international organizations.