IBRD Trust Funds - World Bank

Published purpose

The Nile Trade and Agricultural Production project forms part of the Nile Equatorial Lakes Subsidiary Action Program (NELSAP). NELSAP, in turn, forms part of the Nile Basin Initiative (NBI). The NBI's vision is to achieve sustainable socio-economic development in the Nile Basin countries through equitable development of the Basin's shared water resources and attendant benefits. The project addresses the finding that countries in the Equatorial Lakes sub-watershed have not adequately taken advantage of their potential for agricultural production. Increased agricultural production could be exported to other Basin countries that have challenges meeting their food requirements. The project activities focus mainly on irrigation and various water collection and conservation techniques, livestock production, and marketing of agricultural products. The project helps to strengthen the management of irrigation and livestock production, and contributes to making the regulatory environment more suited to Basin-wide production, marketing, and trade. Given the available financial resources in relation to the scope of the challenge, the project mainly facilitates pilot initiatives in hopes that they can be applied on a larger scale.