Maputo — The African Development Bank (AfDB) will disburse 33 million dollars to support the poultry sector in Mozambique, under the Inclusive Agri-food Value Chain Development Programme (PROCAVA), taking into account that the country is considered the largest producer of red meat in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region, with an annual production of 29,000 tonnes.

The figure was announced by AfDB representative in Mozambique, Flávio Soares da Gama, on Wednesday, at a National Livestock Forum, held in Moamba district, about 60 kilometres north of Maputo.

"The bank has decided to disburse 33 million dollars to finance PROCAVA, a recently approved project with an emphasis on chicken farming. The financing is a joint effort with the International Fund for Financing Agricultural Projects and, in this case, will be implemented by the Government of Mozambique, through the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development', da Gama said.

According to da Gama, the AfDB, as Mozambique's co-operation partner in various projects, is ready to leverage the entire value chain in the livestock sector, in addition to providing funding.

"Under the pillar of financing African projects, the AfDB drives the development of the private sector and we intend to do the same by embracing this project', he said.

For his part, the Mozambican Minister of Agriculture, Celso Correia, said that the fund would be used to boost public and private projects, considering that the poultry sector has grown by 41 per cent in the last five years.