ISLAMABAD: The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is preparing a new six-year operational plan for rural development and food security for 2019-24 to provide strategic guidance to its member countries on all aspects of agriculture, natural resources and rural development.

An evaluation document released by ADB on Tuesday says the refinement of the operational plan is currently underway as a broader corporate initiative.

During the 2005-17, the ADB provided $12.2 billion to its member countries in Asia and the Pacific region for sustainable agriculture.

Although, the bank is meeting its $2bn annual approval target for food security, an ADB approach is lacking, the report says.

In its recommendations, the evaluation report recommended the bank to replace the previous plan and revised corporate targets need to track both agricultural and non-agricultural contributions.

To track progress towards rural development and food security targets, the project classification system should be revisited. The current plan has 17 sub-sectors, some of which are only marginally related to agriculture. Specific operational guidance should be developed for areas of increasing importance, neglected sub-sectors and regions, the evaluation report recommends.

The ADB should promote more robust sector diagnostics, through technical assistance, to strengthen project pipelines and country partnership strategies that can deliver the ADB ‘Strategy 2030’ rural development and food security priority area objectives.

Published in Dawn, February 20th, 2019