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Asian Development Bank loan for Bihar agri business | | Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Government of
India have signed a 67.6 million dollar loan that will help improve physical and institutional links to support agriculture in the state of Bihar. The signatories
to the loan were Venu Rajamony, Joint Secretary (Multilateral Institutions), Department of
Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, on behalf of the Government of India; and Hun Kim,
Country Director for India, on behalf of ADB. The project agreement was signed by Dr. N.
Vijaya Lakshmi, Secretary (Agriculture) on behalf of the
State Government of Bihar. The loan will help expand agricultural value chains
and facilitate better linkages for small-scale farmers with processors, agribusiness
entrepreneurs, and service providers in Muzaffarpur and Patna-Nalanda regions
of Bihar . The loan is the first tranche of a 170 million dollar multitranche
financing facility under the Agribusiness Infrastructure Development Investment
Program, which was approved by the ADB Board in September 2010 to boost private
sector investment in agribusiness infrastructure in selected regions of Bihar
and Maharashtra . The programme will build physical and institutional links along
horticulture integrated value chains (IVCs), which include farmers, processors,
agribusiness entrepreneurs, and service providers, a central goal of the Indian
government. This will help farmers, traders and other value chain stakeholders
to improve their products and processes, become competitive and adapt to changes
in end markets. Public-private partnerships (PPP) to design, build, finance and
operate the integrated value chains are a key component of the project. Private
investors will provide collection services, grading, packaging, storing, processing
and cold storage facilities to a range of high value chains. This will raise the
value addition being done from agricultural activities, by reducing post-harvest
wastes and integrating small landholders into the agribusiness value chains. The
programme would also enhance livelihoods by benefitting farmers, the landless
poor and women through creation of additional employment opportunities along the
integrated value chains and ancillary industries thereby raising their income,
and improving off-farm income opportunities for the rural poor. Speaking on the
occasion, Rajamony said that the agribusiness infrastructure development investment
program fills gaps in agribusiness infrastructure value chains from farm gate
to market. "This innovative and integrated approach will promote a more inclusive
agribusiness value chain and promote efficient and market-oriented farming among
smallholder farmers," he added. Kim said that the pioneering nature of the investment
program is the introduction of integrated value chains and application of public-private
partnerships in the agribusiness sector. The Department of Agriculture, Government
of Bihar, is the executing agency of the project, which is expected to be implemented
over a period of six years, completing in 2017.
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