AGRICULTURAL COMPETITIVENESS AND EXPORT DIVERSIFICATION PROJECT

active

Prospective

Component 1. Strengthening the enabling environment and infrastructure for agri-food value chains development (US$35 million). Component 1 will support the Government’s ability to provide an enabling environment for competitiveness enhancement. In this way, the component seeks to: (i) strengthen the public institutions, policies, and administrative frameworks related to agribusiness development; and (ii) invest in critical public infrastructure and market information systems for the agri-food sector. First and foremost, the component will provide funding for a series of Competitiveness Reinforcement Engagements (CREs) that will support value chain development and export promotion through a structured public private dialogue. The CREs will identify necessary public services, that must be delivered to enhance value chain competitiveness for the targeted farmers. The component will support the adoption and implementation of key institutional reforms, including the enhancement of the regulatory framework to ensure food safety. The component will also finance : (i) public infrastructure, namely a cold storage freight terminal and related trade infrastructure – including equipment – at the new airport and a transitory and movable cold terminal to be built at the Cotonou airport; (ii) the establishment of an effective market information system through the collection and dissemination of market information, which would enable producers decide on the types of crops to produce, when to produce them, and where to sell them to maximize their incomes. Component 2. Increasing productivity, connectivity, value addition, and resilience (US$65 million). Component 2 will support actions to increase the productivity and competitiveness of the agri-food products, starting with pineapple and cashew nuts. The component will finance: (i) access to quality inputs, including improved seeds and planting materials to enhance productivity; (ii) the delivery of extension and other services, through public and private institutions, as needed to ensure adequate level of sustainable production with improved quality standards; and (iii) support to the local agro-processing industry for the adoption of quality and safety standards for exports markets. All activities and investments supported under the component will include risk reduction and resilience enhancements, as well as climate-smart and good environmental management practices. The component will also finance the rehabilitation of 1,200 km and the maintenance of 4,200 km of existing rural road networks to enable market connectivity and enhance access to markets for agri-food products in the project area. The rehabilitation and maintenance of rural roads in agriculture production zones in project intervention areas will complement the national rural road network rehabilitation program launched by the Government to improve connectivity and access to the main agricultural production areas in a balanced way throughout the whole country. Component 3. Promoting Private Investment and Access to Finance (US$45 million). The component will promote private sector investment all along the selected value chains, through: (i) a mechanism to support climate-smart agricultural investments, including the provision of matching grants to producers to support the rehabilitation of private small-scale irrigation scheme, and support for related business development services; and (ii) a risk sharing mechanism. The component will establish and operate a matching grant mechanism for business development by farms and agri-food SMEs for production, processing and ancillary activities including Business Development Services (BDSs). The project will provide free of charge technical assistance to eligible beneficiaries for advisory support throughout the investment cycle. This will include the preparation of sound business plans, appropriate choice of technology, and corresponding preparation for loan application if any. The component will also provide increased incentives for financial institutions to lend to private sector firms and critical service providers in the agri-food sector by sharing the burden of risk associated with private agri-food initiatives. For that purpose, the component will finance the following twin interventions: (a) risk sharing instrument to alleviate capital constraints through guarantees to support access to credit for investments to be made by producers and agribusiness SMEs to upgrade or modernize their existing production equipment and infrastructure (no new small scale irrigation scheme will be supported), as well as storage, and processing facilities; and (b) a commercial guarantee mechanism (such as a defined minimum revenue or advanced payment guarantee) meant to attract investment in critical services by mitigating commercial risk to expanded service provision mainly for specialized logistics companies such as Third-Party Logistics (3PLs) or Fourth-Party Logistics (4PLs), and other service companies. Component 4. Project Management (US$15 million). The objective of this component is to support project management. The project will fund the operation of the Project Management Unit (PMU) during the entire implementation period, so that it can carry out its project management and coordination functions, including fiduciary aspects, the implementation of the project’s safeguards policies, project monitoring and evaluation (M&E), reporting and communication activities. This will include consultant services, provision of goods and equipment, training and incremental operating costs.Component 5: Contingent Emergency Response (US$0)The CERC will be established and managed in accordance with the provisions of World Bank Policy and Bank Directive on Investment Project Financing. The project’s CERC will be triggered only when the Government has officially declared an emergency and a statement of the facts is provided justifying the request to activate the use of emergency funding. If the World Bank agrees with the determination of the disaster and associated response needs, this component allows the Government to request the World Bank to recategorize and reallocate financing from other project components to cover emergency response and recovery costs.

FY17 - Agriculture, Fishing and Forestry,FY17 - Industry, Trade and Services,FY17 - Transportation

World Bank Group

Project

Airport, Road, Water Supply and Storage, Warehouse, Forest Products and Packaging, Consumer Products, Commercial, Raw Materials, Government