In order to improve the resilience of the people and ecosystems of the Niger River Basin, the Board of Directors of the African Development Bank, has approved $76 million for the integrated development and climate change adaptation in the Niger Basin.
The program is co-financed with – the Green Climate Fund, the European Union, the Global Environment Fund, the Forest Investment Fund and the various governments – to the tune of $134 million.
The Bank Group committed to this program during the presentation of the Climate Investment Plan of the Niger Basin during COP21 in Paris in 2015; and will contribute through sustainable natural resource management project zone shared by nine Member States (Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroun, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea, Mali, Niger, Nigeria and Chad).
“The PIDACC is of paramount importance for populations living in the area and the economies of the member countries of the Niger Basin Authority (NBA),” the Bank Group Agriculture Research, Production & Sustainability Division Manager, Patrick Agboma said.
The activities include recovery of 140,000 ha of degraded land; construction of 209 water conveyance infrastructure for agro-pastoral systems and fish farming; leveraging on the livestock and aquaculture compacts of the Technologies for African Agriculture Transformation (TAAT).
The program will also touch on implementing 450 agricultural value chain development sub-projects; building climate change adaptation capacity for 1,000,000 households and operationalize a financing mechanism for natural resource management.
Expectations of the program are high and include increased production through 280 million m3 of agricultural water harnessed per annum; Additional crop, fish and meat production (575,000; 9,000; and 6,000 metric tons, respectively) and Climate change adaptation enhanced for 500,000 women and young people having access to reclaimed land.
PIDACC-BN is in line with three of the Bank’s High5 priorities – Feed Africa; Integrate Africa; and Improve livelihoods of the population. It also fulfils the Bank’s climate change mitigation agenda.