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African Development Bank Group (AfDB)

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    • Durfo village community leader (far left) discusses project benefits with Zoba Maekel community engineer (centre) and Hailemikael Berhe (right), DRSLP project accountant during a field visit to a masonry dam in Durfo village, Zoba Maekel, central Eritrea
    • An aerial view of the Guritata dam, in Zoba Maekal, central Eritrea
    • Image of Meskel’s farmland, in Zoba Anseba, northern Eritrea
    • Ongoing community-led construction of a masonry dam, in Zoba Maekal, central Eritrea
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Source: African Development Bank Group (AfDB) |

Transforming dust: How Eritrea’s dams are revitalizing the land

A network of masonry dams is slowly transforming Eritrea’s rural landscape, bringing clean water, food security, and new hope to remote farming communities once battered by drought

In villages across Eritrea’s dry interior, change is quietly flowing. Where seasonal rivers once surged and vanished without trace, hand-built dams now hold back precious water. Irrigation canals feed crops even in dry months. Eritrea, one of the Horn of Africa’s most drought-prone countries, has adopted a straightforward approach to…

African Development Bank Group (AfDB)

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    • President of the African Development Bank Group, Dr Akinwumi Adesina; Governor of Oyo State, Seyi Makinde; and Nigeria’s Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Senator Abubakar Kyari, at the groundbreaking ceremony of the Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zone (SAPZ) in Ijaiye, Oyo State, Nigeria, 02 August 2025
    • President of the African Development Bank Group, Dr Akinwumi Adesina, delivering his speech at the groundbreaking ceremony of the Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zone (SAPZ) in Ijaiye, Oyo State, Nigeria, 02 August 2025
    • President of the African Development Bank Group, Dr Akinwumi Adesina; Governor of Oyo State, Seyi Makinde (3rd from left); Nigeria’s Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Senator Abubakar Kyari (2nd from left); Mrs Grace Adesina; Senior Special Adviser to Dr Adesina on Industrialisation, Prof Oyebanji Oyelaran-Oyeyinka (2nd from right); and AfDB Director General for Nigeria, Dr. Abdul Kamara, at the groundbreaking ceremony of the Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zone (SAPZ) in Ijaiye, Oyo State, Nigeria, 02 August 2025
    • President of the African Development Bank Group, Dr Akinwumi Adesina and the Governor of Oyo State, Seyi Makinde, ahead of the groundbreaking ceremony of the Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zone (SAPZ) in Ijaiye, Oyo State, Nigeria, 02 August 2025
    • Nigeria Expands Agro-Industrial Footprint with New Processing Hub in Oyo State
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Source: African Development Bank Group (AfDB) |

Nigeria Expands Agro-Industrial Footprint with New Processing Hub in Oyo State

The Oyo site is the third to be developed under the national SAPZ program, and the first in southwest Nigeria

Oyo SAPZ will host up to 40 agro-processing industries, create over 100,000 direct and indirect jobs, and benefit half a million farmers. A great honour to do this on my last official visit to Nigeria as President of the African Development Bank Group (www.AfDB.org) – Adesina Nigeria has launched a…

African Development Bank Group (AfDB)

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    • In Nigeria, Oyo State’s fertile ground is set to meet mechanized ambition, as the state begins construction of its Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zone under Phase I of the SAPZ Programme
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Source: African Development Bank Group (AfDB) |

Nigeria: African Development Bank to join groundbreaking ceremony of Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zone in Oyo State

Third groundbreaking in 2025 under Phase I of the Nigeria SAPZ Programme; first in the country’s southwest

The Federal Government of Nigeria and the Oyo State Government will be joined by the African Development Bank (www.AfDB.org) for the groundbreaking ceremony of the Oyo State Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zone (SAPZ). Headlining the ceremony, to be held 2 August 2025 in Ijaiye, Akinyele Local Government Area, will be Nigeria’s…

African Development Bank Group (AfDB)

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    • GAFSP Senegal food security support project in the Louga Matam and Kaffrine regions
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Source: African Development Bank Group (AfDB) |

Benin: African Development Bank Approves Over $30 Million to Protect Farmers from Climate Shocks and Food Insecurity

The project strengthens the Beninese government's efforts to establish agricultural insurance, whose pilot phase is managed by Benin's National Fund for Agricultural Development (FNDA)

The Board of Directors of the African Development Bank Group  (www.AfDB.org) has approved $30.25 million in financing for a groundbreaking climate protection and agricultural sector resilience program in Benin. Thanks to this approval, Beninese farmers, particularly those in northern Benin, will no longer have to fear losing their entire harvest…

African Development Bank Group (AfDB)

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    • Koffi Kouakou Charles sharpens his machete before heading to his field
    • Koffi Kouakou Charles in his field in Abokouassikro
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Source: African Development Bank Group (AfDB) |

In Mékro, in central Côte d'Ivoire, sustainable agriculture is giving hope to an entire community

The project is focused on three agricultural crops: yams, cassava and vegetables, as well as traditional poultry farming, and aims to improve the living conditions of 60,000 vulnerable people

Day breaks in Mékro, some 300 km from Abidjan, in central Côte d'Ivoire. The first rays of sun announce the start of what promises to be another sweltering day in a region known for its intense heat. Some women return from the backwaters bringing water to supply the family beehives.…

African Development Bank Group (AfDB)

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    • Morocco: African Development Bank approves €100 Million to empower women and youth entrepreneurs in building inclusive and sustainable agriculture
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Source: African Development Bank Group (AfDB) |

Morocco: African Development Bank approves €100 Million to empower women and youth entrepreneurs in building inclusive and sustainable agriculture

The project aims to generate sustainable economic opportunities for women and youth, boost food security, and strengthen the resilience of small-scale farming against climate change

The Board of Directors of the African Development Bank Group (www.AfDB.org) has approved a €100 million loan to support Morocco’s inclusive solidarity-based agriculture program, focused on empowering women and young people. The project aims to generate sustainable economic opportunities for women and youth, boost food security, and strengthen the resilience…

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    • Supported by the African Development Fund’s Climate Action Window, the project will improve rice seed availability for 11,000 farmers in 13 West African countries
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Source: African Development Bank Group (AfDB) |

African Development Fund supports climate-resilient rice value chains across West Africa

The project will support rice producers and processors in 13 countries: Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and Togo

The Board of Directors of the African Development Fund (ADF) (http://apo-opa.co/4nUpfmv), the concessional funding window of the African Development Bank Group (www.AfDB.org), on 17 July 2025 approved a $9.44 million grant for the Africa Rice Center (AfricaRice) to strengthen the climate resilience of rice value chains across West Africa. Funded…

African Development Bank Group (AfDB)

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    • Cashews are now Burkina Faso's third largest agricultural export after cotton and sesame
    • Christiane Koné, a processor in Toussiana, purchased six automatic shelling machines
    • Arzouma Zougouri, a producer in Orodara, was able to further equip his processing unit
    • Cashew processors at work
    • Adama Sombié, a cashew producer, was given a two-hectare woodlot in Bérégadougou
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Source: African Development Bank Group (AfDB) |

In Burkina Faso, cashew cultivation is a lever for sustainable and inclusive rural development

The project mobilised the necessary resources to contribute to the sustainable transformation of the Cascades, Hauts Bassins and South-West regions, with significant participation from women

Launched in 2017 and completed in 2024, the Cashew Development Support Project in the Comoé Basin for REDD+ (PADA/REDD+) exemplified sustainable development. The project combined poverty reduction, ecological transition and the empowerment of women and young people, achieving a remarkable implementation rate of 95 percent.  It has revitalised the cashew…

African Development Bank Group (AfDB)

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    • Beni Cial Yumba Musoya sits in class with other students
    • Marie Samba, who left the artisanal mines, now raises hens and quails. Here she is preparing feed for her poultry
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Source: African Development Bank Group (AfDB) |

From Mine Shafts to Classrooms: How a Cobalt Mining Town is Reclaiming Childhood and Rebuilding Hope

8,200 young people formerly working in the mines are being supported to integrate into school, vocational training, or income-generating activities

Thirteen-year-old Beni Cial Yumba Musoya used to spend her days scavenging for cobalt under the scorching sun in the artisanal mines of Kolwezi. Today, she dreams of donning a white coat and saving lives. "I want to be a doctor," she says, smiling shyly from her wooden desk at Kasanda…

African Development Bank Group (AfDB)

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    • An artificial intelligence engineer at Neotex.ai registers livestock using the Halisi Livestock app (courtesy of Neotex.ai)
    • Animal identity fraud detected by facial recognition using the Halisi Livestock app (courtesy of Neotex.ai)
    • Jenny Ambukiyenyi Onya, co-founder of Neotex.ai, the start-up that created the Halisi Livestock app (courtesy of Neotex.ai)
    • Livestock farmers who have received microloans thanks to the Halisi Livestock app herd their sheep and cattle in Kajiado County, Kenya (courtesy of Neotex.ai)
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Source: African Development Bank Group (AfDB) |

World Youth Skills Day: For Jenny Ambukiyenyi Onya, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is transforming African women livestock farmers’ herds into a source of finance

The company she founded, Neotex.ai, has rolled out its services in new rural areas in Kenya, registering more than 1,250 head of livestock and proving the viability of its model

A dirt road in Kenya. Heavy heat shimmers over the surrounding savannah. A loan officer approaches a herd of cattle and pulls out a smartphone. Standing next to the owner, a woman with a proud yet cautious gaze, he photographs an animal. Hundreds of miles away, an artificial intelligence algorithm…