Guinea – The Islamic Development Bank (IDB) has boosted the agricultural production of Guinea with a US$22 million in equipment including tractors, combine harvesters, grain mills, hullers, tricycles and motorcycles.
In Guinea, agriculture contributes 27.3% to GDP and employs around 60% of the active population. The government, which wants to intensify agricultural production, is leveraging mechanization of agriculture to boost agricultural productivity.
Guinea is the second largest producer of milled rice in West Africa after Nigeria with a stock of nearly 1.95 million tonnes harvested in 2022/2023.
According to the official communique from the government, this donation from IDB is part of the Gaoual-Koundara-Mali Integrated Rural Development Project (PDRI-GKM).
The said project aims in particular to reduce the constraints linked to the development of agriculture in the prefectures of Gaoual, Koundara and Mali in the northeast of the country.
This government program initiated since 2019 aims to increase agricultural productivity and access to markets for beneficiary producers in 5 priority agricultural value chains including rice, corn and potatoes.
Elhadj Mamady Condé, Senior Advisor for Animal Production and Feeding at the Ministry of Agriculture, chaired the ceremony for the reception of a batch of more than 300 agricultural equipment for the benefit of farmers.
Guinea’s agricultural sector will also receive US$100 million in funding from the World Bank to improve its rural productivity, Xinhua newspaper reported, citing the Secretary General of the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock, Oumar Barry.
The funding will support the government’s program to implement the development of commercial agriculture in Guinea, in order to ensure self-sufficiency and food security.
It will also help to increase the productivity of the commercial agricultural sector to facilitate its marketing at the national, sub-regional and global levels.
The Guinean state has also budgeted US$25 million to support for farmers for the 2024-2025 farming campaign year.
Mr. Barry explained that the financing will also allow the private sector to bring its expertise and know-how to the agricultural sector with a view to increasing its share in the national economy which is 20% between 2018 and 2020 according to the 2021 report of the African Development Bank (AfDB).
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