World Bank approves new agri-biz project in Maharashtra, 1mn farmers to be benefited

The World Bank is all set to provide support to small-holder farmers to ensure participation in competitive agriculture value chains. The assistance from the international financial institution will facilitate agri-business investments, increase market access and productivity in focus commodities, and build the resilience of crops to recurrent floods or droughts in the Indian state of Maharashtra.

The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors have approved the Maharashtra Agribusiness and Rural Transformation Project worth USD 210 million. It will assist in building capacity of the nodal departments and institutions; increase private sector investments in agricultural value chains, removing constraints for producers and entrepreneurs in accessing emerging domestic and export markets, building the capacity of the state to respond to commodity-price fluctuations by providing access to timely information on markets and production trends, and enhancing adoption of climate-resilient production techniques in the state.

“The Government of Maharashtra aims to double agriculture exports from the state and transform the sector into a stable source of sustainable growth and economic development. This project will serve as the nucleus to fulfil the state’s much larger vision of an agriculture-based rural transformation,” the World Bank Country Director in India, Junaid Ahmad opined.

The project will be implemented in all 36 districts of Maharashtra. More than one million farming households will directly benefit from the project. At least 43 percent of farmers and farm-workers participating in project activities are expected to be women. Specific focus will be given to women-led enterprises and the participation of women in the decision-making processes of farmer producer organizations. 

Such an agricultural transformation is already underway in Maharashtra with an upsurge in the production of high-value crops such as fruits and vegetables, pulses, and maize and soybean for animal feed. The state has emerged as one of the country’s largest producer and exporter of fruits, vegetables, pulses, cotton, and soybean. Whereas the area under cultivation for cereals such as rice and wheat has been declining since 2000.

The focus of the project on enhancing the capacity of the state to effectively manage and deliver agricultural technical support and services, increasing credit linkages to formal financing institutions, improving Sanitary and Phytosanitary standards and investing in business development services will help small-holder farmers become more competitive and increase their links to organized domestic and export markets.

“With a substantial urban population, relatively high per capita incomes, and highest industrialization levels, Maharashtra is well-placed for an agriculture-sector transformation. This project will strengthen the capacity of small-holder farmers to cope with fluctuations in the commodity market and enhance their incomes. The International Finance Corporation, the World Bank’s private sector arm will also be actively engaged in project design and implementation,” cited Manivannan Pathy, Senior Agricultural Specialist and Adarsh Kumar, Senior Agribusiness Specialist and World Bank’s Team Leaders for the project.