Azernews.Az

BAKU – The World Bank has allocated a $80 million loan to Azerbaijani farmers to improve the water supply in rural irrigation systems.

The WB’s Board of Directors on Tuesday approved a $76.8 million International Development Association (IDA) credit and a $3.2 million International Reconstruction and Development Bank (IBRD) loan for the Azerbaijan Water Users Associations Development Support Project (WUAP). With the $34.3m government contribution, the total financing for the project is estimated at $114.3m.

The productivity of 760,000 small-scale farmers located in 27 provinces of Azerbaijan will improve owing to the rehabilitation of the country’s on-farm irrigation and drainage networks and capacity building activities being supported by new WB financing.

With favorable climate and soils, Azerbaijan has a comparative advantage in the agricultural sector, but irrigation is a critical input for profitable crop production. Many irrigation systems need to be rehabilitated, especially the on-farm systems which are managed by water users. Previous projects supported by the WB helped water users with training to take over the management of irrigation systems, and with rehabilitation of the irrigation infrastructure. The new project will expand this support to a larger area and the majority of water users in the country, the WB said.

"This project supports a key strategic objective of economic diversification," said Asad Alam, World Bank Regional Director for South Caucasus. "Rehabilitation of irrigation systems will support improvements in agriculture productivity, promote investments and exports, and will create jobs and higher incomes for farmers and rural workers."

The WUAP focuses on strengthening the capacity of Water Users Associations (WUAs), which are responsible for the management of on-farm irrigation systems. "The project will provide training and support to about 379 WUAs on almost 900,000 hectares, helping them to improve the water supply to their members," said David Meerbach, World Bank task manager for the project. "The project will also finance the rehabilitation of almost 3,000 km of irrigation and drainage canals and water regulation structures, benefiting 85,500 ha and 34 WUAs. Experience from previous projects show that this helps farmers to significantly increase their yields and raise their family income."

Since joining the World Bank in 1992, the commitments to Azerbaijan total about $2.9 billion for 43 projects.