Tambacounda, Dec 18 (APS) – The entrepreneurial adaptation and development project in rural irrigation and agriculture (AVENIR), funded by Global Affairs Canada (MAC), the Canadian federal ministry responsible for Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development, aims to improve the empowerment of young people and women in the departments of Tambacounda and Goudiry (east), through the strengthening of agricultural and food entrepreneurship, assured one of its officials at the APS.
“The AVENIR project trusted us to develop an entrepreneurship model in the department of Tambacounda and Goudiry to strengthen the empowerment of young people and women,” declared Sémou Guèye, country project manager at the NGO Avenir MEDA, responsible for implementing the AVENIR project.
”It is a purely entrepreneurial model that allows clients to develop a business model to have sources of income that are flexible and sustainable. In our jargon, we talk about clients, we have a fund of 2.5 million dollars, or 1 billion 563 million CFA francs, to boost agricultural and agri-food entrepreneurship,” he explained during an interview with the APS.
As part of the implementation of the project, the clients, that is to say the beneficiaries, have a contribution to make to develop their businesses.
The AVENIR project supports agricultural businesses operating in value chains such as baobab fruit, rice, horticultural products (chili pepper, okra, bissap, onion), cashew and mango through intelligent incentives including funding funds. price reduction and innovation.
The project also allows clients to access innovative agricultural technologies to strengthen their activities
”Our objective is to resolve the issue of employability in the departments of Tambacounda and Goudiry. There is a significant segment of young people and women who have created their own businesses in the value chains of our intervention. This was an important turning point in the project,” underlined Semou Gueye.
“We are a year and a half from the end of the project, we are working in a capitalization process to strengthen our gaps and our inadequacies to make the project a model that the State of Senegal can duplicate at the level of the poles of the national territory” ‘, he argued
The entrepreneurial adaptation and development in rural irrigation and agriculture project is funded by Global Affairs Canada (MAC), the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development of the federal government of Canada.
It aims to improve the socio-economic well-being and resilience of agricultural households in the departments of Goudomp and Bounkiling, the Sédhiou region and the departments of Tambacounda and Goudiry, through agricultural and irrigation practices adapted to the climate. , while putting women and young people at the forefront.
The project directly targets 11,500 women and young people from agricultural households, i.e. 70% women, and indirectly up to 35,000 people.
ABD/ASB/AKS
