AfDB satisfied with the country’s performance

The African Development Bank (AfDB) obtains satisfactory results in Madagascar, according to the mid-term report of the Country Strategy Paper (CSP) for the period 2017-2021 and the performance review of the 2019 country portfolio, approved on November 25 in Abidjan by the Board of Directors of the Bank.

To achieve the CSP, the Bank relied on two main pillars: the development of energy and transport infrastructure to support inclusive growth, and support for the transformation of agriculture and the development of industry. In pillar I, improved access to reliable energy at a lower cost, enabled a recovery rate of JIRAMA (Electricity and Water of Madagascar) bills of 89% in 2018, compared to 40% in 2015. Nearly 76,044 new connections were made between 2015 and 2019 and electricity prices were adjusted by an increase of 37% on average to better reflect costs. In addition, the rate of access to electricity improved slightly from 15% in 2015 to 16.6% in 2019. For transport connectivity from production areas to markets, 105 kilometers of roads were constructed in this way. than 16 kilometers of rural tracks and 320 meters of bridges. Thus, traffic on national road 9 (RN9) increased by 27% between 2016 and 2019 and the journey time fell by half a day. The reduction is up to 15 hours for heavy weights.

More jobs for women

In pillar II, the continued implementation of agricultural projects (rehabilitation and extension of the irrigated perimeter and agricultural infrastructure in the southwest) as well as the Investment Promotion Support Project (PAPI) significantly improved the ‘access to formal salaried employment in high added value activities. In fact, the land developed for irrigation increased from 9,000 hectares in 2016 to 21,000 hectares in 2019, of which at least a third was allocated to women. The additional agricultural production per year reached 120,000 tonnes for rice and 35,000 tonnes for cape peas. Jobs created in the textile industry jumped from 80,000 in 2014 to 150,000 in 2019, 70% of which were held by women. In the area of ​​transformative and job-creating activities, three incubation centers for young people in agriculture and agribusiness have been built, and nearly 410 micro and small agricultural enterprises, of which at least a third are businesses run by women benefit from support to become future entrepreneurs.

Orson Razaka à Tananarive