Finance
World Bank World Bank to provide a loan of Tk 1,020 crore for irrigation development
Dhaka, March 10: The World Bank will provide a loan of about Tk 1,020 crore (USD 120 million) to Bangladesh to ensure climate-tolerant food security and increase agricultural and fish production through irrigation. The loan was approved by the World Bank's headquarters on Tuesday (March 9), the Dhaka office of the international financial institution said on Wednesday (March 10). Bangladesh will have to repay this loan in 35 years with five years grace.
The loan will be provided under the Climate-Smart Agriculture and Water Management Project.
This loan assistance will improve the irrigation and drainage system of 1 lakh 15 thousand hectares of land. If the project is implemented, the damage to crops caused by floods will be reduced by 60 percent.
Moreover, the project will help increase the income of 1 lakh 70 thousand poor people affected by climate change. Half of these beneficiaries will be women. The project will increase fish production by about 40 per cent and rice production by 7.5 per cent.
"Seventy percent of Bangladesh's people depend on agriculture for their livelihood," said Mercy Tembon, the World Bank's country director for Bangladesh and Bhutan. But climate change and natural disasters make them vulnerable or vulnerable. Under this project, agricultural production will be increased through climate tolerant water management, which will also ensure increase in income. It will also make life and climate tolerable for the locals. '
Abel Lufafa, a senior agriculture specialist at the World Bank and leader of the project's task team, said: "Food control and drainage systems play an important role in ensuring an increase in agricultural production. The project will play a role in controlling water management during the monsoon season and ensuring water supply in the dry season after the monsoon.
