AfDB Approves $17M Grant to Boost Women's Entrepreneurship and Agricultural Value Chains in Mauritania

PCVASGEF is part of the Programme to Support Agricultural Transformation in Mauritania, focusing on climate change adaptation and promoting inclusion.

The African Development Bank (ADB) Group Board of Directors has approved a $17 million grant to the Islamic Republic of Mauritania for the Project for Promotion of Gender-Sensitive Agricultural Value Chains and Women's Entrepreneurship (PCVASGEF). Financed under the Global Agriculture and Food Security Programme (GAFSP), this initiative aims to increase productivity and add value to agricultural products, boosting women's income and supporting female entrepreneurship in Mauritania.

PCVASGEF is part of the Programme to Support Agricultural Transformation in Mauritania, focusing on climate change adaptation and promoting inclusion. The project emphasizes empowering women in the vegetable production and packaging industry by creating local market garden production centers and year-round irrigation basins to prevent national-level production disruptions.

Malinne Blomberg, the Bank’s Country Manager for Mauritania, highlighted the project's importance for agricultural transformation and women's empowerment.

Key project components include:

New market gardening plots managed by women: 1,014 hectares divided into 321 small modular plots (2-4 hectares each)

4,500 hectares of improved drainage basins

Construction and equipping of 12 multi-purpose, internet-connected centers for promoting female employment

Two vegetable packaging and storage units

Six local vegetable markets

The program also encourages women's entrepreneurial culture by supporting innovative start-ups, young entrepreneurs, and providing training. It includes capacity-building for market-gardening value chain actors, support for women's organizations (including 205 women's market-gardening cooperatives), and establishing 12 agricultural savings and loan associations.

Implemented in 12 districts of the Brakna and Trarza regions, the project targets vulnerable areas with precarious situations for women. It will directly benefit up to 22,200 households and indirectly impact nearly 90,000 people, improving food security and household resilience through efficient irrigation systems, greater solar energy use, agricultural transformation, market access, and value chain upgrades.

The active portfolio of the Bank Group in Mauritania now includes 20 operations with net financial commitments of $422 million.