Côte d'Ivoire - Regional Resilient Rice Value Chains Development Project in West Africa (REWARD-CI)

In January 2023, the heads of state of 34 African countries gathered in Dakar for a summit jointly organized by the African Union (AU) and the African Development Bank (AfDB) on the theme “Feeding Africa: Food Sovereignty and Resilience.” The Dakar Declaration issued at the Summit was endorsed by a resolution of the 36th AU Summit held in February 2023, in which the Heads of State committed to (i) sustainably increase the production and productivity of agricultural value chains prioritized for achieving food sovereignty, as defined in the Food and Agriculture Compacts presented by the Heads of State, and (ii) strengthen access to public and private financing for food and agriculture. achieving food sovereignty as defined in the Food and Agriculture Compacts presented by the Heads of State, (ii) strengthening access to public and development partner financing, carrying out reforms conducive to private sector investment, and (iii) ensuring the implementation of the Compacts under the auspices of National Presidential Councils according to an established timetable. The review of the Compacts revealed that rice was unanimously recognized by Heads of State as a major strategic commodity for their food sovereignty. In this regard, REWARD is one of the Bank's flagship operational responses to financing the Compacts of West African countries. The Project will be financed by: (i) ADF resources (ADF loan and OR loan) in the amount of 14 million UC (86.74%), broken down as follows: ADF loan (7.000 million UC) and OR loan (7.000 million UC); and (ii) the Ivorian government, for 2.14 million UC (13.26%).