World Bank Board Approves an Additional Financing of USD68m for the GIRAV project

The World Bank Board has approved an Additional Financing of USD68 million for the Gambia Inclusive and Resilient Agricultural Value Chain Development Project (GIRAV).  This brings the total project budget to USD108million. The project aims to promote the development of inclusive, resilient, and competitive agricultural value chains, with specific focus on smallholder farmers and agribusinesses in The Gambia. 

Hon. Dr. Demba Sabally, Minister of Agriculture and Livestock made the announcement Today Saturday April 27, 2024 during a field visit to the Maruo farms Rice field in Pachari, Central River Region South as part of a nationwide tour of sub-projects of Small and Medium Enterprises supported by the GIRAV matching Grant.

Hon. Sabally is accompanied by Hon. Baboucarr Joof, Minister of Trade, Industry, Regional Integration and Employment and other senior officials from the Ministries of Agriculture, Trade and Finance and their lined departments other stakeholders.

He informed the gathering that he has just been informed by his Finance and Economic Affairs colleague Hon. Seedy Keita that the bank which funded the initial project with a grant of USD40m has granted the approval for the additional funding the negotiations for which was concluded in March.

On behalf of President Adama Barrow, his government and the people of The Gambia, Hon. Sabally expressed profound appreciations to the World Bank for the benevolent gesture. He said: “This move is indeed a welcomed development and a clear testimony of the Bank’s commitment to the achievement of the project development objective.

“The gesture is consistent with the Bank’s ongoing contributions to initiatives aimed at accelerating the transformation of the Gambia’s agri-food systems to make them more inclusive, resilient, productive, competitive, and sustainable. As a government, we are indeed pleased with this assistance which will no doubt help consolidate the remarkable achievements registered thus far”.

With the additional Financing, the project will have an additional component aimed at increasing water supply to promote irrigation to boost agribusiness, and improve access to potable water in rural areas and provision of sanitation and hygiene to selected schools.  Furthermore, through the additional financing, the project will also support the government’s efforts aimed at improving the country’s land administration system to promote security of land tenure and climate resilient spatial planning.