THE HISTORY OF THE OPEC FUND
The Abdulai Era (1983-2003)
To date, the OPEC Fund has approved more than 600 loans and grants in agriculture for a total of US$3.5 billion, representing almost 12 percent of its total investments. Of this total, US$2.1 billion was dedicated to projects in Africa, US$737 million to Asia, US$433.8 million to Latin America and the Caribbean and US$188.9 million to other regions. The vast majority were public sector loans (93 percent), followed by private sector and trade finance (3 percent) and grants (4 percent). The economic structure of agriculture in many developing countries often makes it difficult to attract investment, even when it is long-term concessional finance. Instead, grant financing is all the more important and is especially relevant in the case of small-scale projects and emergencies.
Making Cameroon food self-sufficient by 2035
Situated in central Africa, Cameroon with a population of almost 30 million lies in the bottom half of the Global Hunger Index – coming 78th out of 123 countries ranked in the 2025 report. Malnutrition is rife with over 40 percent of women suffering anemia, almost 30 percent of children underdeveloped below the age of 5, and over 10 percent of babies born underweight. The key to reversing these worrying trends lies in the wetland grass, Oryza , more commonly known as rice. This grain – the world’s third- largest crop by production quantity after sugarcane and maize – is one of the staple foods in Cameroon with annual consumption of around 25 kilograms per capita. But demand has greatly outpaced supply, approaching half a million tonnes per year, which over the last three years forced Cameroon to make up for that gap by importing around two million tonnes of rice at a cost of US$877 million. Addressing this issue, the OPEC Fund in 2024 approved a US$25 million loan to the Rice Value Chain Development Project which aims to boost food security and cut rural poverty by fostering high-potential value chains in rice production, processing and commercialization. In practical terms, that means
investments in 7,000 hectares of rice paddy fields, improved farming and post-harvest equipment, 650 km of access roads from farms to markets, more than 50 storage warehouses, training for over 200,000 stakeholders and field placements for young graduates. Despite abundant natural resources, Cameroon’s agriculture sector remains uncompetitive and unable to fulfill its potential. Minister of Agriculture Gabriel Mbairobe says: “We want to satisfy national consumption and modernize rice production. Today, only plowing is mechanized. So we plan to modernize the harvest, storage, and hulling so that we increase the national supply.” Co-financing partners in the project include the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa (BADEA), the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB), the Kuwait Fund and the government of Cameroon. The total project cost is US$170 million. Employing over 60 percent of the labor force and generating 15 percent of GDP, the agriculture sector is a top priority for Cameroon, reflected in
Grain from the World Food Programme being distributed in Tanzania, 1984
the National Development Strategy (2020-2030) and the aim of achieving food self-sufficiency by 2035.
This is demonstrated by the role grants played in the OPEC Fund’s support of food security. A first example was a US$25 million food aid grant in 1981 to the International Emergency Food Reserve through the UN World Food Programme (WFP) for the benefit of Mauritania, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Somalia, Sri Lanka and Tanzania. The program managed standby food aid pledges to respond to emergencies caused by natural disasters, war and other cases of urgent need. In later years, the OPEC Fund also provided grant support to larger programs. When Sub-Saharan Africa faced severe food shortages in the early
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