DUSHANBE, June 18, 2011, Asia-Plus — Following an application by the Ministry of Finance of Tajikistan (MoF) the Global Agriculture and Food Security Program (GAFSP) Steering Committee has decided to provide 27.9 million U.S. dollars to Tajikistan for implementation of the investment plan, the MoF Secretariat reported.
The project is reportedly aimed at increasing the water supply level and efficiency of water use that will allow increasing production of agricultural crops, improving irrigation and drainage infrastructure as well as improving quality of the water resources management.
In the meantime, according to the GAFSP website, the GAFSP Steering Committee met in Washington on June 7-8, 2011, and awarded a total of US$160 million in direct project funding to four countries: Cambodia (US$39.1 million), Liberia (US$46.5 million), Nepal (US$46.5 million), and Tajikistan (US$27.9 million).
In Tajikistan (Supervising Entity – World Bank), GAFSP funds will increase food security through increased crop production resulting from improved sustainable irrigation and drainage infrastructure and improved water resource management policies.
The Global Agriculture and Food Security Program (GAFSP) is a multilateral mechanism to assist in the implementation of pledges made by the G8++ at the L’Aquila Summit in July 2009 and was set up in response to a request from the G20 in Pittsburgh in September 2009. The objective is to address the underfunding of country and regional agriculture and food security strategic investment plans already being developed by countries in consultation with donors and other stakeholders at the country-level. This makes aid contributions toward the achievement of the Millennium Development Goal 1 to cut hunger and poverty by half by 2015 more predictable.
