KP Irrigated-Agriculture Improvement Project: World Bank rates implementation progress as ‘moderately satisfactory’

ISLAMABAD: The World Bank has rated the implementation progress of the “Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Irrigated-Agriculture Improvement Project” worth around $ 220 million as moderately satisfactory.

The project was approved in June 2019 with the development objective to improve the performance of irrigated agriculture for farmers in the project area. The closing date of the project is 31st December 2025.

Official documents noted that the Project Development Objective (PDO) is on track to being achieved, against the original project duration of six years, having reached 112,399 beneficiaries. Except for the implementation of High-Efficiency Irrigation Systems (HEIS), planned under Component B.1, activities across all components are on-track.

The project also triggered Component E: Contingency and Emergency Response Component (CERC) to support 98,944 individuals affected by the 2022 floods. The project has rehabilitated 7,852 watercourses bringing 187,130 ha of area under improved drainage and irrigation.

Under Component B, implementation of HEIS is slow with only 1,105 hectares covered with new technology. Implementation across other subcomponents is on-track: (i) 2,831 water storage tanks have been completed; and, (ii) 134 laser land levelling units have been distributed across community members.

Technical feasibility and value chain studies have been implemented under Component C while training plan for staff of Department of Agriculture has been developed with support from the Asian Institute of Technology, to be rolled out in April 2024.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024