Kathmandu: The Agriculture Development Bank Limited(ADBL) has implemented financing support porgramme for smallholder farmers. ADBL has been appointed as the implementing partner for The Value Chains for Inclusive Transformation of Agriculture (VITA) Programme in Nepal.
The programme is implemented across 28 districts in provinces 2, 3 and 5. The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the Government of Nepal recently joined hands to launch a six-year programme to improve the livelihoods of 120,000 smallholder farmers. It also aims to improve climate resilience and nutrition of the farmers.
ADBL will support smallholder farmers for easy financing facilities for farming. The investment by ADBL and other domestic banks will also be a large step in building climate resilience into public and private investment practices.
IFAD is providing a $97.67 million loan, with ADBL and other domestic banks providing US$ 38.6 million. The Government of Nepal will contribute US$ 9.95 million while US$ 33.75 million is expected to come from the project participants. The local private sector is expected to contribute US$ 16.88 million. The total size of the programme financing envelope is of US$ 196.92 million.
The VITA Programme aims to build a productive value chain (production, processing and distribution) and build inclusive model of rural economic growth in Nepal. It will further contribute to improve the earning.
“IFAD will also work with Heifer International Nepal to engage women and youth in a variety of income-generating activities while also improving household food and nutrition security. The programme will also include a large number of returnee migrants who want to engage in agriculture and off-farm rural business development.” Importantly, VITA will seek to ensure that all credit provided by ADBL will be climate screened to ensure that risks are appropriately assessed for securing smallholder farmers’ investments.(Agency)
