The AfDB Board of Directors on Thursday, September 12 approved $2.9 Million to Uganda for the Africa Fertilizer Financing Mechanism to boost farmers’ access to fertilizers with credit guarantees and grant funding.
Moreover, the lender approved Fertilizer Financing Mechanism project to provide 60,000 metric tons of fertilizer to 400,000 smallholder farmers in Uganda.
“In Uganda, the fertilizer consumption is about 2.5 kg/ha. The project will help to make fertilizer more accessible and appropriately used by farmers, which would in turn boost agricultural productivity and help to improve food security in Uganda,” Marie Kalihangabo – Africa Fertilizer Financing Mechanism Coordinator stated.
Under the Fertilizer Financing for Sustainable Agriculture Management project, the Africa Fertilizer Financing Mechanism will provide $2 million in partial trade credit guarantees and a grant of $877,842 grant to the African Fertilizer and Agribusiness Partnership.
Over a three-year duration, the project will support two wholesalers to sell fertilizer with a value of up to fifteen times the value of the $2 million partial trade credit guarantee.
At the same time, the project will link wholesalers to around twenty-five hub agro-dealers and 125 retail agro-dealers who will on-sell the fertilizer to farmers.
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The credit facility will help to reduce the risks associated with suppliers lending fertilizers to wholesalers on credit.
The project is expected to boost yields and will also provide training to 3.4% targeted farmers, 40% of them women on using improved seeds, balancing crop nutrition and best farming practices.
Likewise, it will also advance the Bank’s Feed Africa Strategy by increasing food productivity and security.
Additionally, it will also build on the results of the Sustain Africa initiative, the Bank’s Country Strategy Paper for Uganda 2023–2026, and its Technologies for African Agricultural Transformation Programme.
About the Africa Fertilizer Financing Mechanism
In 2006, African leaders mandated the Africa Fertilizer Financing Mechanism to assist African Union Member States in increasing agricultural productivity.
The Africa Fertilizer Financing Mechanism was formally created in 2008 and became operational in 2015.
The African Development Bank’s Board of Governors extended its lifespan to 2032.
The Mechanism’s primary mission is to create an enabling environment for mobilizing the investments needed to achieve the target of 50 kilograms of fertilizer nutrients per hectare, as instructed by the 2006 Abuja Declaration on fertilizer for an African Green Revolution.
AfDB Agribusiness Partnership
The African Fertilizer and Agribusiness Partnership is a non-profit social enterprise that collaborates with public and private sector partners to develop and strengthen inputs value-chains and to deepen and broaden fertilizer markets across Africa.
The Partnership is dedicated to designing and executing sustainable development projects that support policy and regulatory reforms, capacity building, financial credit provision, and data collection and market intelligence dissemination.
Additionally, the two partnership provides innovative and market-oriented business solutions, that helps to promote the growth of the agricultural inputs and agribusiness value chain sectors.