Punjab Resilient and Inclusive Agriculture Transformation

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The proposed project will contribute to transforming Punjab’s agriculture into a more inclusive, productive, sustainable, and market-oriented sector. First, the project will continue the successful activities introduced under PIPIP, such as upgrading community water conveyance infrastructure (watercourse) and promoting adoption of efficient irrigation technologies. Second, the project will support greater market integration for producers by introducing a new market pull approach in Pakistan centered around productive alliances (PA) between buyers and producers organized in producer groups (PG). This approach will build on global experience regarding PA implementation as well as on the evidence emerging from the Sindh Agriculture Growth Project (SAGP, P128307, Credit 5494-PK) that shows improvements in market access and income from the aggregation of milk producers into PGs. Third, PRIAT will foster the adoption of innovative climate-smart solutions that could serve as new standards for Punjab as well as for other provinces, e.g., improved on-farm water management practices, community-level water resources accounting and budgeting, and irrigation advisory services. Finally, interventions under PRIAT will be community demand-driven, support to farmers will be market-driven and solutions will be private sector-led wherever possible. To ensure the demand-driven nature of project-financed activities, the Project Management Unit (PMU) will conduct comprehensive community and farmer consultations periodically so that all activities adequately reflect demands on the ground during the whole project implementation cycle. Through the PA approach, the project will support investments made by farmers to meet market specifications identified with buyers. Like for PIPIP, the private sector will play an indispensable role in watercourse improvement, HEIS installation, and value addition activities. The main beneficiaries of the project include WUAs, individual producers, and PGs. Women will receive tailored support to improve their position in agriculture production, market integration, and access to climate-smart practices and technologies. The proposed project will undertake a study to document the role of women in Punjab’s agriculture sector as a basis for targeted interventions. The Project has four components: Component 1: Community-driven Improvement of Water Conveyance and Application (US$126 million, IDA US$97 million). This component has two objectives: (a) Improve the equity of water access within the watercourse command area by improving the conveyance efficiency; and (b) improve agricultural water productivity by promoting the adoption of climate smart water management practices at community and farm levels. These measures will strengthen climate resilience of the beneficiary households and irrigated agricultural systems. Component 2: Promotion of Climate Smart Production, Regenerative Agriculture, Diversification, Value Addition, and Inclusive Access to Markets (US$118 million, IDA US$85 million). This component seeks to support growth-oriented farmers to (a) diversify, intensify, and add value to their production through a market-driven and climate smart approach; and (b) establish and/or upgrade market linkages with off-takers in a sustainable and profitable way. Producers and PGs (i.e., farmers entrepreneur groups (FEGs)) will receive both TA from local service providers (LSPs) and direct financial support. Component 3: Project Management, Monitoring and Learning (US$18 million, all IDA). The objective of this component is to ensure that all project activities are implemented effectively and efficiently to achieve the PDO. In addition to traditional project management and monitoring and evaluation (M&E), PRIAT will make efforts to facilitate the implementation of some innovations under the project, such as market integration support through PAs and community water resource budgeting and farm level groundwater management. This component will also support a synergistic collaboration between PAD and PID on the broader water resources management agenda. Component 4: Contingent Emergency Response Component (US$0). This component supports preparedness and rapid response to disaster, emergency, and/or catastrophic events, as needed. The provisional zero-cost for this component will allow for the rapid reallocation of credit proceeds from other components under streamlined procurement and disbursement procedures.