Deals

AfDB’s agriculture fund injects capital into Tanzania, Mozambique

The Agriculture Fast Track Fund has invested nearly $2m into four agribusinesses in the two countries across the sugar, poultry, horticulture and milk sectors.

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Sugar refinery - iStock

The Agriculture Fast Track Fund (AFT), which is administered by the African Development Bank, has made four new investments in Tanzania and Mozambique.

In Tanzania it awarded Tanga Fresh UHT Milk Factory $150,000 and Kijani Agro Integrated Horticulture $490,000 to help develop their businesses. EcoFarm Sugar Cane Production in Mozambique received $797,500 and Odebrecht Integrated Poultry Production got $555,000. AFT’s total investment reached nearly $2 million.

The two countries are part of a six nation pilot scheme to improve food security, agribusiness and agricultural infrastructure on the African continent. The AFT, which currently stands at $23 million, is funded by the governments of the United States, Denmark and Sweden.

The fund was launched in May last year and has made a range of investments since including awarding grants to two agribusinesses in Côte d’Ivoire and Tanzania in October last year.

“The AFT will provide grant funding for the initial project development costs of a broad range of agriculture infrastructure projects spanning the entire value chain – from production to market. These can emanate from the private or public sector and from local or international businesses,” according to the African Development Bank website.