{"id":3133,"date":"2026-08-21T16:14:11","date_gmt":"2026-08-21T16:14:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/?p=3133"},"modified":"2026-08-21T16:14:11","modified_gmt":"2026-08-21T16:14:11","slug":"rwanda-seeks-bigger-afdb-role-in-agriculture-as-infrastructure-portfolio-dominates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/2026\/08\/21\/rwanda-seeks-bigger-afdb-role-in-agriculture-as-infrastructure-portfolio-dominates\/politics\/national\/","title":{"rendered":"Rwanda seeks bigger AfDB role in agriculture as infrastructure portfolio dominates"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Rwanda is seeking a bigger role for the African Development Bank in agriculture, with more than $400 million in planned financing over the next three years as the country looks to diversify a portfolio dominated by infrastructure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The planned financing is set out in the AfDB Group’s 2025 Country Portfolio Performance Review for Rwanda, released on Aug. 20. The review assesses the performance of bank-funded operations in the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Infrastructure accounts for 87% of the AfDB’s commitments in Rwanda, with water supply and sanitation making up 34% and energy 30%. Multisector operations account for 11%, finance 10% and transport 9%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Agriculture, communications, social development and urban development together account for 6% of the portfolio.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The bank said its concentration in infrastructure reflected longstanding support for the government’s basic infrastructure priorities, but warned that the concentration could constrain the case for additional stand-alone infrastructure investments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Rwandan government has asked the AfDB to shift more financing toward agriculture in line with the Second National Strategy for Transformation, or NST2, which covers the 2024\/25 to 2028\/29 period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NST2 places agricultural modernisation, private-sector-led growth and export-oriented manufacturing among its priorities, alongside efforts to expand inclusive growth and create jobs for young people and women.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The proposed agriculture financing would be a substantial increase from the sector’s current AfDB portfolio.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As of January 2026, AfDB-financed agriculture operations in Rwanda totalled UA 11.2 million, equivalent to about $15.2 million, with only 9.2% disbursed. The portfolio is centred on the Development of Agroforestry and Sustainable Agriculture project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Climate Smart Agriculture Results-Based Financing programme worth $348 million, or UA 254 million, is already in the pipeline, according to the report’s indicative operations programme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The shift comes as the AfDB’s overall Rwanda portfolio has grown rapidly. As of Jan. 31, 2026, it comprised 29 active operations – 27 in the public sector and two in the private sector – with total commitments of $2.6 billion, up from $1.49 billion in November 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Implementation has become a concern as the portfolio has expanded. Projects flagged for performance problems rose to 26% in 2025 from 13% in 2023, mainly because of procurement delays and weaknesses in contract management.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The cumulative disbursement rate stood at 36%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The AfDB and Rwanda’s Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning have endorsed a 2025 Country Portfolio Improvement Plan to address the bottlenecks, including measures to improve project readiness, strengthen contract management and streamline procurement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The review has been submitted to the AfDB’s Committee on Operations and Development Effectiveness for information.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rwanda is seeking a bigger role for the African Development Bank in agriculture, with more than $400 million in planned financing over the next three […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3135,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[50,43,53,41,34],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3133","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-agriculture","category-current_affairs","category-featured-stories","category-hot_topics","category-national"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3133","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3133"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3133\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3136,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3133\/revisions\/3136"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3135"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3133"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3133"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3133"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}