The World Bank today approved a $150 million grant from the International Development Association (IDA) in support of the first phase of Mozambique’s Sustainable Rural Economy Programme.
The amount is aimed at improving incomes and resilience of communities in rural areas, in a first phase the programme will address some of the pressing challenges faced by smallholder farmers and fishermen, as well as Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), while improving natural resource management practices.
“The rural space is the backbone of livelihood for the majority of the population in Mozambique. It is also responsible for the majority of the country’s poor,” noted Idah Z. Pswarayi-Riddihough, World Bank Country Director for Mozambique, Madagascar, Comoros, Mauritius, and Seychelles.
“Rapidly growing rural population adds about 450,000 youth annually to the country’s labour force, making a focus on rural income growth imperative to promote inclusive growth and prevent conflict,” he noted.
The project will provide support to smallholder agricultural and fisheries producers to increase their productivity and access to markets and help MSMEs improve their sales while promoting the adoption of climate-smart agricultural practices.
The programme supports productivity and value addition in the agricultural sector; the adoption of good natural resource management practices on which rural production depends. In addition, the project will invest in extension services and basic climate-proof rural transport infrastructure.
This operation will be implemented by the Ministries of Agriculture and Rural Development (MADER), Land and Environment (MTA) and Sea, Inland Waterways and Fisheries (MIMAIP), and is in line with the country’s priorities outlined in its five-year plan, the Bank’s partnership framework with Mozambique for FY 2017-21, as well as the new conflict prevention and resilience-building focus of the World Bank’s activities in Mozambique.
