WORLD BANK NOTICES THE POTENTIAL OF AGRICULTURAL SECTOR OF UZBEKISTAN

World Bank (WB) announced about start of the Rural Enterprises Support Project – Phase II (RESP-II) worth of $67.96mln. Given project will assist to newly created farms in efficiency improvement, financial and ecological stability of farms and profitability of enterprises of agricultural business.

The seminar for representatives of agricultural sector of the republic took place in the building of Tashkent region hokimiyat (municipality). The participants considered main results of realization of the first phase of the Project, got acquainted with objectives and tasks of the second one, as well as with purchasing procedures applied in the projects financed by World Bank. After official start of the Project in Tashkent, the like events will take place in all seven regions covered by the Project.

On the ceremony of launch of the Project, Moto Konishi, a new regional director of World Bank in Central Asia, noted that objectives of the project would be a good contribution to total economic development of the republic. Moreover, the Project will favor to increase incomes in the rural places in middle term and support events held in the frame of the Year of development and prosperity of village.

The Project RESP-II is a continuation of the Project of support of agricultural enterprises (RESP-I), which assists farmers of five pilot regions of the republic in privatization and restructuring of agricultural enterprises. The Project will expand the range of its activity to 90 districts in seven regions of Uzbekistan (Andijan, Bukhara, Kashkadarya, Samarkand, Syrdarya, Tashkent and Ferghana) for purposes of enhancement of crop capacity and improvement of access to agricultural equipment, as well as consulting services on agricultural business. Moreover, given project will expand the access to nongovernmental sources of financing for farmers.

The Project comprises three directions financing of agricultural enterprises, irrigation and drainage, services of training and consulting on rural places.

By the results of the Project farmers will get access to credit lines of the project and education. Moreover, farmers and Water Users Association (WUA) will be able to expand their potential, to get workout within the frameworks of WUA operations, as well as get acquainted with more improved agrotechnical methods on demonstration land plots. In addition, the Project will finance works on rehabilitation of interfarm and within-farm irrigation-collector network in seven regions of the republic: Ulugnar, Alat, Mirishkor, Bukin, Pasdargom, Bayavud, Yaz’yavan.

A. Yusupov

Source: Uzbekistan Today, 20.03.2009