BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan, April 9. The World Bank (WB) has approved $30 million in financing for the Resilient Agri-Food Clusters Development Project in Kyrgyzstan, Trend reports.
According to the WB, the project will also benefit from a $5 million grant from the Global Agriculture and Food Security Program (GAFSP), bringing the combined funding for the project to $35 million.
The project aims to assist farmers and other participants in the food production chain in enhancing the quality and quantity of their products and accessing more markets. This will involve providing investment loans for selected agri-food clusters, offering training and support, improving seed systems and livestock breeding, and upgrading information management systems.
Furthermore, the project will prioritize the adoption of improved technologies and practices to mitigate and adapt to the impact of climate change. It will also promote the use of digital tools for accessing market information and adopting climate-smart technologies.
The project targets to provide direct support to 8,000 beneficiaries involved in the agricultural value chain, with an additional 20,000 benefiting indirectly. Direct beneficiaries include individual farmers, producer groups, small and medium processors, and other participants in the dairy and horticulture clusters.
Indirect beneficiaries comprise farming communities, household members of loan and training recipients, as well as other stakeholders in the value chain and broader rural communities.
Funding for the project will be provided in the form of a zero-interest, shorter-term loan, with repayments spread out over 12 years and a six-year grace period. The project will be implemented through 2029 by the Ministry of Water Resources, Agriculture, and Processing Industry and the Ministry of Finance.
Tatiana Proskuryakova, World Bank Regional Director for Central Asia, emphasized that the WB prioritizes agriculture alongside energy and water in its new 2024–2028 Country Partnership Framework.