The World Bank Board of Executive Directors has approved an International Development Association (IDA) credit* of US$35 million to support Senegals objective of poverty reduction and job creation among the rural poor.

The proposed project will be the first of two phases of a ten-year Adaptable Program Lending (APL) each lasting five years.

According to El Hadj Adama Tour, the World Bank Task Team Leader for the project, the long-term objective of the project is to increase, by 2015, the non-traditional agricultural exports from their current level of 13,000 tons to 50,000 tons, and to double farm revenues of producers supported by the program.

The Agricultural Markets and Agribusiness Development project would improve domestic markets of crops and animal products and expand exports of higher value-added, non-traditional agricultural exports (i.e., horticultural products, confectionary nuts, essential oils, aromatic plants, and processed foods).  In its first phase, the project will be focused on the Niayes zone, a 200 Km coastal land between Saint-Louis and Dakar, the Groundnut Basin and the East and South-East irrigated zones of Senegal.

The development of private irrigation to support the expansion of commercial agriculture in the Senegal River Valley, the revitalization of the confectionery groundnut sector and the support to the modernization of activities in the broader Groundnut Basin are also among the long-term objectives of the project along with the improvement of the collection and commercialization of fruits and cashew nuts in Casamance.

"The Program will rely on beneficiary participation and ownership in the design, implementation, and monitoring", said Toure. He added that "the ten-year program cost is estimated at US$150 million, approximately US$60 million for the first phase and about US$90 million for the second phase. He recalled that the agricultural - agribusiness sector is one of the five pillars targeted in the Accelerated Growth Strategy of the country and its development is the most efficient response to under-employment in rural zones."

*The credit is provided on standard International Development Association (IDA) terms, with a commitment fee of 0.35 percent, a service charge of 0.75 percent over a 40 year period of maturity which includes a 10-year grace period.