THE World Bank has assured the Sindh government it would consider extending the $50 million on-farm water management project for another year. The project, aimed at improving watercourses launched for three years, ends on June 30.
Secretary Agriculture Ajaz Ahmed Khan said the Sindh government in a recent meeting had requested the World Bank to extend the project for another 15 months so that the targets set for the project could be achieved.
Sources in the department said the target for the project was to improve 3,000 watercourses but the number was later reduced to 2,500. About 1,300 watercourses were improved and the remaining would be strengthened during the extended period if funded by the World Bank.
Apart from concreting kachcha watercourses, the project was envisaged to provide 175 lasers leveling equipment for construction of farming tunnels and cold storages to farmers on subsidised rates.
Agribusiness Support Fund: Another project funded by the World Bank coming to close on June 30, is the National Programme for Improvement of Watercourses (NPIW). The project launched five years ago envisaged cementing of 29,000 watercourses in the province but could improve only 14,000.
A consultant attributed the poor performance of the project to lack of work environment, disputes among influential growers and embezzlement of funds by some members of the farmers associations formed to supervise the work. One association was formed for each watercourse with members whose fields lay along the watercourse.
About 1,400 staff employed by the Sindh government for the programme are these days agitating to defend their jobs which are at risk with the possible termination of the project.
The Sindh Abadgar Board and Sindh Chamber of Agriculture have launched vigorous campaigns to create awareness among growers to benefit from the grants announced by the Agribusiness Support Fund of USAID in collaboration with the Sindh Board of Investment to develop horticulture and livestock sectors in the province.
Sindh Chamber President Dr Nadeem Qamar described the project a grand opportunity for growers to develop their livestock and horticulture because their investment would be equally shared by a matching grant from the fund.
Although some schemes were launched to develop the horticulture sector, he said the government was unable to initiate any scheme to develop the livestock sector. The chamber will organise awareness seminars and would form teams in different districts to help farmers fill the forms for Expressions of Interest (E0Is) as required by the sponsors.
Sindh Abadgar Board Secretary General Mahmood Nawaz said there was tremendous scope for value-addition in local farm products especially fruit juices, milk and meat and the cost sharing arrangement would go a long way in stemming post-harvest losses which presently stand at 30-35 per cent.
He said the board in collaboration with the Sindh Board of Investment would send teams to the interior to help farmers fill the EoI. The board will try its best to get some EoIs submitted by small farmers by June 30, the last date for submission of EOI.. He said the date could be extended to facilitate maximum number of growers to avail of benefits of the project.
The 5-year project has been launched by the Agribusiness Support Fund and Sindh Board of Investment to cooperate in areas of horticulture and livestock with particular focus on small and medium enterprises.
The project to be implemented by Sindh Enterprise Development Fund (SEDF), is aimed to assist SMEs interested in horticulture and livestock value chains in submitting proposals.
The fund intends to form farmers/entrepreneurs outreach teams comprising agribusiness officers, livestock and fisheries officers and graduates from Agriculture University, Tando Jam, to assist interested entrepreneurs/ farmers in fulfilling the required EoIs. Each team is expected to come up with at least 100 proposals from each district.
The project has been designed to address the problems and constraints impeding development of agriculture and to stimulate private sector investment in production of the high value added products.
One of the key components of the project is the cost-sharing grants programme offering a wide range of customised grants to all the actors across the targeted value chain including input suppliers, farmers associations, processors, transporters and exporters.