It also includes a $75 million agriculture value-chain program to increase agriculture production and productivity, by providing improved agricultural inputs and agronomic advisory services to local farmers. The ultimate beneficiaries of this intervention will include smallholder farmers, a significant number being women and youth entrepreneurs across 10 African countries, whose productivity is expected to increase from the deployment of high-quality agricultural inputs. Solomon Quaynor, Vice President for Private Sector, Infrastructure and Industrialization added that "the Bank's investment into ETC Group will go a long way in contributing to food import substitution by allowing ETC to process and package agricultural products locally while increasing value-addition of export-oriented products." The proposed facility will therefore be a key enabler in supporting ETC's build-back strategy on the African continent, specifically in LICs and Transition states". Their business activities cover agricultural inputs, cash-traded products such as pulses and rice, exchange-traded products, logistics, and retail consumer goods.

Source: The North Africa Journal November 13, 2021 04:51 UTC