ADB, India sign $130 million loan to promote horticulture in Himachal Pradesh

Asian Development Bank

Government of India and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) have signed a USD 130 million loan agreement to increase agricultural productivity, improve access to irrigation and promote horticulture agribusinesses to raise farmers’ income in Himachal Pradesh, a release said on Monday.

The project interventions will help increase the income and resilience to the effects of climate change of at least 15,000 farm households across seven districts of the state namely Bilaspur, Hamirpur, Kangra, Mandi, Sirmour, Solan, and Una, the release said.

These households have stopped farming or have reduced their farming areas because of a lack of irrigation facilities and crop damage by wild and stray animals, it said.

The project will improve on-farm irrigation and water management in about 6,000 hectares of farmland by rehabilitating or building new irrigation schemes and strengthening the capacity of WUAs for micro-irrigation management through joint efforts from the state’s Jal Shakti Vibhag (Water Resources Department) and Department of Horticulture (DOH), it said.

The project will also help create an ecosystem to enhance farmers’ access to markets of subtropical horticulture, it said, adding, the farmers will be organised into cluster-wide community horticulture production and marketing associations (CHPMAs) and district-wide CHPMA cooperative societies.