Agricultural Development & Credit Project

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The Agricultural Development and Credit Project seeks to return Azerbaijan's farming areas to former levels of productivity under a new system characterized by private family and group farms operating in private markets. There are four project components. 1) Real estate registration component will support the Government's national program for privatizing and titling state and collective farm land; and develop and implement the organizational and legal framework for a unified real estate cadastre system. 2) Rural finance component will pilot a mechanism to increase the availability in rural areas of market based credit and deposit services for rural households, enterprises, and farms. In particular, the component will establish two types of local financial intermediaries -- credit cooperatives and groups of jointly liable borrowers. 3) Information and advisory services component will increase farmers access to information, advice, and training. It will build capacity for the provision of such services in the private and public sectors, assemble useful technology and advice, and develop suitable delivery mechanisms. 4) Rural policy unit will be set up to assist the Government to develop a strategy to maintain the competitiveness of agriculture in face of the potential impact on the real exchange rate of developments in the oil sector and related issues of agricultural sector management.