The African Development Bank Group (AfDB) is supporting Namibia's Agriculture Sector with the approval of One Billion South African Rands (*ZAR 1 billion) loan to finance the country's Agricultural Mechanisation and Seed Improvement Project (NAMSIP).

The NAMSIP was approved by the AfDB Board, on Monday, 4th December 2017 in Abidjan, and aims to enhance agricultural productivity in order to reduce annual importation of staple cereal crops/grains, facilitate job creation, and enhance household incomes which will improve the lives of rural people.

The Project's two key components comprise Value Chain Improvement, (with agricultural mechanization and certified seed systems as sub-components), and Institutional Support through Capacity Building, and Project Management.

The Project is aligned to the Bank's High-5 priorities of Feed Africa, and Improve the quality of life for the people of Africa; Ten Year Strategy (2013-2022); Namibia Country Strategy Paper (CSP: 2014-2018), and Gender Strategy (2014-2018). The Project is also in line with Namibia's Fifth National Development Plan 2017/2018-2021/2022); Harambee Prosperity Plan (2016/2017-2019/2020), and Growth at Home Strategy for Industrialization, which identify agriculture as a priority area with enormous potential to contribute to economic progression, social transformation and environmental sustainability.

The Project will be implemented by Namibia's Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Forestry over a period of 5 years, in all 14 Administrative Regions of Namibia. It will directly benefit 294,500 crop farmers, and 10,000 livestock farmers. In addition, the project will fully support 111 smallholder farmer cooperatives, and indirectly benefit about 800,000 people along the cereal crops and livestock value chains.

The Project is estimated to cost ZAR 1.42 billion. The ADB Loan will finance 70.5% of the total project cost while the Government and beneficiaries will contribute the remaining 25.5% and 4.0%, respectively.

1 US$ = ZAR 13.62 as of 5 December 2017