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The World Bank has approved a $75 million (about Rs 475 crore) credit for the Andhra Pradesh Rural Inclusive Growth Project to enhance agricultural incomes of small and marginal farmers.
The project, approved recently, seeks to ensure increased access to services related to health, nutrition, sanitation and social entitlements. It will target small and marginal farmers in the 150 most backward mandals of Andhra Pradesh covering 5,000 villages.
The project aims to invest in developing a network of social enterprises for food, nutrition, sanitation and other social enterprises which operate at community and district level and support the Andhra Pradesh Government in its efforts at creating an enabling policy framework.
“Over the years women-led community institutions in Andhra Pradesh have made significant impact in helping communities gain higher access to credit, education and assets, and in greater empowerment of women. However, despite these achievements, inclusion remains a challenge,” Onno Ruhl, World Bank Country Director in India, said.
The Project will help link small and marginal farmers to urban markets and make them competitive across the value chain. It will specifically support to increase the incomes of 250,000 small and marginal farmers by at least 50 per cent by enhancing productivity and improving their access to markets. This will seek to exploit growth opportunities for high value commodities such as red gram, milk, poultry, small ruminants, fisheries, turmeric, cashew, and coffee.
It will also work towards improving the coverage and service delivery of social protection entitlements for 500,000 poorest households, mainly from SC and ST households.
The other key aspects would be to invigorate and create local markets by connecting rural producers and enterprises.
On the human development side, the project will use community led approaches to improve access to water and sanitation services in about 1,000 targeted villages.
The credit is from the International Development Association (IDA) – the World Bank’s concessionary lending arm – the Credit is on IDA terms with a maturity of 25 years, including a five-year grace period.
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