The African Development Fund (ADF) grants $47.09 million to Mozambique’s Pemba-Lichinga Integrated Development Corridor, a Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zones (SAPZs). The grant is for phase 1 of a special Agro-Industrial Processing Zone aimed to improve productivity & agribusiness expansion in the Niassa province. The funding will boost institutional capacity, skills, & entrepreneurship to encourage agricultural value chain growth.
The project will test the new policy and development management between the Niassa province and national departments, particularly with the Ministry of Industry & Commerce and the Ministry of Agriculture & Rural Development.
SAPZs, combined with other initiatives, focus on agro-processing within areas of high agricultural potential. The aim is to increase productivity and integrate the chosen products’ production, processing, and marketing. Together with making suitable infrastructure (energy, water, roads, ICT, and more) in rural areas of high agricultural prospects, SAPZs hopes to bring private agro-industrialists or entrepreneurs to invest and provide economic and social development for rural areas.
This is in line with the Mozambique National Development Strategy 2015-2035, aiming to enhance living conditions through structural transformation of the economy and growth & diversification of the production base. The project also aligns with the African Development Bank’s Country Strategy Paper 2018-2022 for Mozambique, prioritizing the Northern provinces and the Bank’s Feed Africa Strategy for agriculture transformation.
