Government of Pakistan Funding for productivity enhancement and irrigation system improvement . (Source PHDEB website August 4 2006)
• Two ‘mega projects’ - special programme for food security and productivity
enhancement of small farmers (CMP costing Rs 7.821 billion) and water conservation and productivity enhancement through high efficiency irrigation system (Rs 15 billion have been incorporated in the Government of Pakistan’s Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) 2006-07.
• The Crop Maximisation Project (CMP) would cover 13,000 villages by 2015. Initial phase would encompass 1000 villages to reduce over 50 percent yield gap between
progressive growers and small farmers, and it would also lead to higher production levels in the sector.
• Water conservation and productivity enhancement project would benefit the horticulture sector, as it needs more water to increase productivity. Of the total financing of the project, the provinces would bear 20 percent of the total cost of the project while the federal government will bear 60 percent of the total cost and the remaining 20 percent will be contributed by the beneficiaries (farmers).
• Drip and sprinkler irrigation systems would result in approximately 40-50 percent water saving, 30-100 percent agricultural productivity increases, 25-40 percent saving in fertilisers and 40-45 percent increase in cropping intensity.
Agribusiness Development and Diversification Project.
This Asian Development Bank assisted project is being implemented by MINFAL and covers all areas of Pakistan including the four provinces, Federally Administered Tribal Areas
(FATA), Federal Administered Northern Area (FANA) and Azad Jammu and Kashmir(AJK). It will be jointly executed by MINFAL, State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), Provincial Agri and
Marketing Depts and FATA, FANA and AJK. Budget for 2005-2010 is Rs. 4066 million (AU$ 88 million including US$ 31 million soft loan), and activities include provision of support services for agri-business development in the private sector and agri-business finance development. An agri-business support fund has been established for capacity building of existing agro-enterprises and to pursue demand driven research to improve quality
production as well as processing. The project will also minimize post harvest losses which are estimated at US $22 million per year
Mr Tajamal Hussain Nisar (E [email protected]) is provincial co-ordinator (Punjab) of this project. Mr Tajamal was formerly with PHDEB and he played a key role in organising the ASLP mango supply chain scoping visit in March-April 2006. The project is funded by a soft loan from the Asian Development Bank and will be managed by consultants M/s ANZDEC Limited New Zealand (see Box).
According to the ADB loan proposal (4/2005), the project interventions should focus on increased productivity, product quality, and value added by removing constraints facing
agribusiness that occur throughout the product value chain from production and input supply, to processing and exports. Constraints will be addressed throughout the value chain to remove market and institutional failures and rigidities that impede the development of the agribusiness sector, and promote demand- driven development with maximum participation of the private sector. This will be achieved by (i) creating an agribusiness support fund (ASF) to provide farmers, farmer groups, and entrepreneurs with demand-driven technical and managerial services on a matching grant basis to improve their productivity, competitiveness, and creditworthiness to access financing for their enterprises; (ii) increasing access to
agribusiness finance available from financial institutions to agro-enterprises; (iii) revising and updating the agribusiness regulatory framework; (iv) strengthening and upgrading testing and certification facilities for seeds, nurseries, and crops; (v) streamlining the collection and dissemination of market information; (vi) strengthening agribusiness technical training capacity and the capability of related training institutions; (vii) formulating a national agribusiness policy and provincial horticulture policies; and (viii) building awareness of the need to comply with international agricultural product standards and practices as an essential requirement to maintain and expand export markets for agricultural products. The Project should foster a flexible private sector service delivery mechanism for the agribusiness sector driven by market demand. The primary focus will be on horticulture and hortibusiness, though interventions to improve the livestock and dairy institutional framework, and support selected enterprises will be provided (see box below).
Observer 15 April 2006 Islamabad—Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock and M/s ANZDEC Limited of New Zealand on Friday (April 14 2006) signed a consultancy contract for the Agribusiness Development and Diversification Project.
• Sultan Ahmad, Joint Secretary MINFAL and Robert Hanmer, Project Management Leader, ANZDEC signed the contract papers on behalf of their respective sides. Minister for Food, Agriculture and Livestock, Sikandar Hayat Bosan and Secretary MINFAL, Ismail Qureshi were present on the occasion.
• About 12,500 farmers will benefit from grant funding through the Agribusiness Support Fund over the project life of five years. A number of institutions will develop dedicated agribusiness finance functions, which will benefit 10,000 agro enterprises by improving access to finance, resulting in 100,000 person years of direct employment and 700,000 person years of indirect employment.
• Under the capacity building activity 25,000 farmers will receive on-farm technical training while over 5,000 entrepreneurs will receive technical and managerial training. • M/S ANZDEC will provide technical and professional expertise in institutional
restructuring, compliance with international quality standards, development of agribusiness policy, competitive and comparative advantage studies.
• ANZDEC will also assist in developing agribusiness training for framers and entrepreneurs.
• The overall focus of the project is on the entire agriculture business with an aim to strengthen and support demand driven private sector service delivery mechanisms throughout the agribusiness value chain. The specific focus of the project is on Horticulture and Hortibusiness and also on the Livestock and Dairy business.
• The project is designed to redress constraints that hamper the growth of agribusiness sector. A variety of project interventions have been built in the project to remove constraints and thereby increase productivity, improve products quality and add value to agribusiness activities.—APP
Pakistan Initiative for Strategic Development and Competitiveness. (PISDAC)
Warren Weinstein and associates made contact with the citrus team at the Islamabad Workshop. Subsequently, Les Baxter met with them and has had additional email dialogue. (quoted from website link) The 'Pakistan Initiative for Strategic Development and
Competitiveness- (PISDAC) is a United States Agency for International Development (USAID) funded activity managed by J.E. Austin Associates Inc. and is aimed at increasing the competitiveness of Pakistani Small and Medium sized enterprises. The sectors currently covered under the project are Gems & Jewellery, Dairy, Marble & Granite, Furniture and Horticulture/Food Processing.
PISDAC partners with the Pakistan Small and Medium Enterprise Development Authority (SMEDA), the Technology Up-Gradation and Skills Development Company (TUSDEC), the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE), Pakistan Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (PCSIR) and various other government agencies and ministries as well as provincial and local government authorities. PISDAC III began in February 2006 and has continued to provide technical assistance to the dairy, gems and jewellery, and marble and granite SWOGs to define and plan their initiatives. PISDAC III includes three additional SWOGs in horticulture, surgical tools, and furniture.
Started in May 2004, the project worked with several prominent Pakistani industries and helped form three Strategic Working Groups (commonly referred to as SWOGs), which develop sector-specific strategies. SWOGs include industry leaders, government officials, academia, and relevant NGOs that are working together to develop strategies and implement policy and regulatory changes through public-private dialogue.
These strategies are aimed at upgrading production, improving marketing and understanding and meeting consumer demand. The Strategic Working Groups identify priority investments in human resources, infrastructure, technology, and, management required to produce higher-quality products.
SWOG Groups for Horticulture include 1. Producers and Processors 2. Training
3. Logistics and cold storage 4. R & D and Policy
5. Marketing
6. Product Development and
7. Quality, Certification and Standards.
The Training Core Group has discussed model nurseries and introducing reliable rootstocks. And ICM training.
The Quality Certification and Standards group has discussed compilation of a certification and quality standard manual and establishing a voluntary quality label for Pakistan fruit The Fruit Exporters Group has discussed EURGAP standards and benchmarking.
The Logistics and Cold Storage Group has discussed lack of standardisation of transport vehicles, lack of cold storage facilities, poor knowledge by exporters and packers of packaging materials.
The Horticulture Marketing Group has discussed marketing information systems, quality standards and certification, branding, linkages and made several recommendations. The Horticulture Group has discussed potential clients, target markets and competitors, the role of supermarkets and support funds, commodity focus and devised a plan of action.
Fruit and Vegetable Development Project Umbrella PC-1. 2005.
This is a 4 year project (to 2009) sponsored by the Government of Punjab and executed by Punjab Dept of Agriculture with a budget of Rs 643710 million (AU$14 million). The main objective is to increase fruit vegetable production in the Punjab. Elements include:
9 Organizing farming community under the Farmer Field Schools (FFS) system. 9 Educating farmers in mango, citrus and vegetable production technology.
9 Minimizing the use of pesticides to the tune of 20-25% on fruits & vegetables through a comprehensive and well organized training programme in IPM techniques.
9 To enhance mango, citrus and vegetable production qualitatively and quantitatively for foreign exchange earnings.
9 Popularisation of off-season vegetable production through low cost tunnels. 9 Reduction in environmental pollution and health hazards.
It focuses on mango, citrus and vegetables to improve germplasm quality and certification, production for export, fruit and vegetable marketing and value adding, business practice, supply chain link and use of the farmer field school approach. It involved institutes within AARI, the Dept Agriculture Extension, CABI Pakistan and the Planning and Evaluation Unit. CABI are responsible for assisting agricultural extension component for training of farmers through Master trainers and Trained facilitators. (Project document on file at ACIAR).
Rural Enterprise Modernisation Project
Pakistan is also promoting rural enterprise development - This 3 year (2006-2008) technical assistance (TA) loan costing US$ 100.00 million, with 77% from ADB and 23% from GoP will (i) fill major gaps in information and analysis on rural nonfarm medium and small enterprises (MSEs), and consolidate this information in a knowledge management system; (ii) identify and initiate carefully targeted pilot interventions to support rural MSE development; and (iii) assess institutional support processes and the feasibility of establishing an autonomous, not- for-profit entity to facilitate rural MSE development. The TA loan has three components: (i) market development preparation (MDP), (ii) sector analysis and pilot interventions, and (iii) preparatory analysis for the design of a Rural Enterprise Modernization Company (REMC). Other activities being funded by donors (from Rural Enterprise Modernisation Project document are listed in Table 5.1.
Table 5.1 External Assistance to Support Enterprise Development
Project Title Funding Agency External Assistance ($ million)
Agribusiness Development Project Small and Medium Trade Enhancement Project
Trade Export Promotion and Industry Small and Medium Enterprise Sector Development Program
Small and Medium Enterprise Sector Development Program
(Project Loan)
Microfinance Sector Development Project
Microfinance Sector Development Program
Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Project – Phase 1
Second Poverty Alleviation Fund Project
Banking Sector Technical Assistance Project
State Bank Partnership for Microfinance Financial Sector Strengthening Program EU Capacity Building for Trade-Related Activities
Trade Initiatives from a Human Development Perspective Proposal to Support Craft-Based Enterprises
Competitive Support Fund Bilateral Assistancea ADB ADB ADB ADB ADB ADB ADB IBRD/IDA IBRD/IDA IBRD/IDA IBRD/IDA SDC SDC UNDP UNIDO USAID 31.0 150.0 7.5 152.0 18.0 80.0 70.0 90.0 238.0 20.0 26.5 0.7 2.4 7.3 2.0 To be approved 10.0
ADB = Asian Development Bank, EU = European Union, IBRD = International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, IDA = International Development Association, SDC = Swiss Agency for
Development and Cooperation, UNDP = United Nations Development Programme, UNIDO = United Nations Industrial Development Organization, USAID = United States Agency for International Development.
(a) Enterprise development initiatives of the Aga Khan Rural Support Program, National Rural Support Programme, Punjab Rural Support Programme, and other nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) have been financed by several bilateral agencies including the Australian Agency for International
Development, Canadian International Development Agency, and others. These initiatives are part of overall programmatic support extended over many years, starting in 1983.
Sources: Economic Affairs Division, Ministry of Finance; United Nations Development Programme, Islamabad; assistance agencies and their Web sites.
US funded Agriculture Linkages Program (ALP17)
We were briefed on some of the research covered under the Rs100 million research
competitive grant program. Of particular relevance were those projects /activities that could complement or synergies the activities proposed under ASLP. Therefore some additional information on the ALP has been accessed from the ALP and PARC websites:
A list of first and second round projects relevant to horticulture are attached together with progress reports for 2004-2005. A 2001 ALP workshop identified the following as priorities for the program: Of the commodities/problems listed those that are being funded under ALP with relevance to the ASLP are highlighted. Those listed as priority areas and not currently being funded under ALP are underlined:
HORTICULTURE Priority Fruits - Citrus - Mango - Banana - Apple - Peach - Apricot - Melon
Priority Research Areas
- Germplasm introduction/evaluation and varietal development for quality and productivity, extension in availability periods.
- Biotechnology improvements for dwarfing in mango, seedlessness in Kinnow, post harvest/ shelf life extension, etc.
- Nursery production and management, use of root and growth promotion treatments. - Mother plant indexing, bud wood certification, quality standards for nursery plants and
certification program
- Orchard management practices – particularly macro and micro-nutrients, leaf analysis, irrigation techniques.
- Post harvest handling and processing techniques.
- Research on marketing system for local and export markets.
- Research on specific problems like mango, malformation, banana, bunchy top virus, citrus and mango decline, fruit flies, gummosis, fruit cracking in pomegranate, etc.
17 In 2001, the United States Government donated wheat valued at US $ 23.2 million as grant to the
Government of Pakistan. The convents of the agreement provided that the local currency generated through the sale proceeds of wheat will be used to establish “Agricultural Linkages Program” for promoting research cooperation between Pakistan and the USA in the areas of agricultural sciences.
SOCIAL SCIENCES High Priority
• Economic efficiency and sustainability of selected farming systems;
• WTO trade liberalization move: Implications for Pakistan’s agriculture with special reference to sustainable development, food security, poverty alleviation and environmental concerns;
• Economics of farm input use;
• Economics and marketing of growing various fruits and vegetables; and • Development of regional models for agricultural policy analysis/decisions. Medium Priority
• Analysis of technology transfer methods for sustained growth in agriculture; • Farmers’ capacity building through information technology;
• Impact and evaluation studies of different interventions/ projects; and
• Research on assessment and determinants of agricultural marketing costs, marketing margins, improvements, development and integration of agriculture markets.