Azernews.Az

The government of Azerbaijan and the World Bank on Tuesday signed loan agreements on the allocation of $80 million in assistance to water users in Azerbaijan, the WB Baku office said Tuesday.

$76.8 million will be provided for the Azerbaijan Water Users Associations Development Support Project (WUAP) by the International Development Association (IDA) and $3.2 million by the International Reconstruction and Development Bank (IBRD).

With $34.3 million government contribution the total financing of the project will be $114.3 million.

The agreements were signed by Minister of Finance Samir Sharifov, the Chairman of the Amelioration and Irrigation Open Joint Stock Company, Ahmad Ahmadzade, and World Bank Country Manager for Azerbaijan Joseph Owen.

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

With favorable climate and soils, Azerbaijan has significant potential to develop its agricultural sector which can become a key sector of non-oil economy and contribute to economic diversification and export growth. At the same time, most of the agricultural activity in the country depends on irrigation. Azerbaijan has an extensive irrigation network, but many irrigation systems need to be rehabilitated, especially the on-farm systems which are managed by water users themselves. Previous projects supported by the World Bank helped water users with training to take over the management of irrigation systems, and with rehabilitation of the irrigation infrastructure. The new project, implemented by the Amelioration and Irrigation open joint stock company, will expand this support to a larger area and the majority of water users in the country.

"This project will help tap the potential of Azerbaijan’s agriculture," said World Bank Country Manager Owen. "Rehabilitation of irrigation systems will support improvements in agriculture productivity and will create jobs and incomes for farmers and rural workers. This project will also strengthen the management of on-farm irrigation systems in the country."

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. The project will also finance the rehabilitation of almost 3,000 km of irrigation and drainage canals and water regulation structures, benefitting around 85,500 ha and 34 WUAs.

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