ADB to allocate $30 million to Tajikistan to raise agricultural output

Almaty. October 4. Silkroadnews – The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved the allocation of $30-million financial aid to Tajikistan to raise the agricultural sector output, TajikTA reports.

«The ADB has approved the allocation of $30-million financial aid to Tajikistan, including $5 million grant and technical assistance from the Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction (JFPR) to increase agricultural productivity and food security. The task is assumed to be fulfilled by improving the management of water resources in the Panj river basin», the ADB representative to Tajikistan said.

According to the experts of the bank, Tajikistan's low food security is related to limitation of fertile irrigated lands, underdeveloped agriculture, weak relationship between rural and urban areas and lack of resistance to climatic shocks.

«Thus, the ADB project is aimed at strengthening the management of water resources in the Panj River basin, the largest river basin in Tajikistan, which is the basis of the country's agriculture and has the largest production capacity in the agricultural sector of Tajikistan. This basin covers most of the Khatlon region with the highest population (2.7 million people)», the ADB report explains.

To remind, the Republic of Tajikistan joined the ADB in 1998, and till today the total aid the bank approved for the country has made more than $1.4 billion in concessional loans, grants and technical assistance.