The second phase of the water valorization project for the development of value chains covers nine administrative regions: Louga, Thiès, Kaolack, Fatick, Kaffrine, Diourbel, Ziguinchor, Sédhiou and Kolda.
On December 2, 2024 in Abidjan, the Board of Directors of the African Development Bank Group approved a loan of €55.33 million to Senegal
for the second phase of the Water Reclamation for Value Chain Development project.
The objective, according to the statement by AfDB, is to achieve a sustainable increase in agricultural production, employment and income in the regions covered by the project, in particular through the mobilisation of surface and groundwater.
The satisfactory results of the first phase of the project, which were highly appreciated by the beneficiaries, have given rise to new challenges related to the consolidation of the project’s achievements and the provision of support to young and female entrepreneurs in the agriculture sector in order to maximise the value of their investments.
The need to offer similar opportunities and to extend them to other regions also justifies a second phase,’ Mohamed Chérif, head of the African Development Bank’s Senegal country office, was quoted as saying in the statement.
The project includes the development of 9,000 hectares of land, including 1,950 hectares of saline land, 450 hectares of collective market gardens, the rehabilitation and reinforcement of 15 existing irrigation areas, the installation of 10 solar-powered cattle watering points and 20km of drinking water networks around the cattle watering points.
The project also includes the construction of marketing infrastructure. This will include 130km of production roads, of which around a hundred will be rehabilitated, the construction of 20 warehouses with a capacity of 100 tonnes each, and four grouping centres with cold stores with a capacity of 300 to 500 tonnes each.
To promote employment and youth entrepreneurship, PROVALE CV-plans to create 1,250 farms covering a total area of 2,000 hectares and to build and equip 40 agricultural mechanisation centres, 50 multifunctional platforms and 50 solar-powered processing units.
The project will also support the creation of 180 livestock production units and 60 aquaculture farms.
The second phase of the Water valorisation for value chain development project covers nine administrative regions: Louga, Thiès, Kaolack, Fatick, Kaffrine, Diourbel, Ziguinchor, Sédhiou and Kolda.
The Louga region, which has similar agro-climatic and socio-economic vulnerabilities to the eight regions in the first phase, is the extension zone for this project, which will directly benefit almost 57,000 households, or around 570,000 people.
