ADB, French firm to support small farmers in Pakistan

MANILA: Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Louis Dreyfus Company BV (LDC) have signed a loan of up to $100 million to help smallholder farmers recover from the economic challenges caused by Covid-19 and improve resilience to climate change impacts, the multilateral lender said on Thursday.

“The loan will support LDC’s operations in India, Indonesia, Pakistan, Thailand, and Viet Nam by financing coffee, cotton, and rice inventories for over 50,000 smallholder farmers across these countries,” the ADB said in its statement.

The ADB said it would help secure food supply chains and reliable incomes for smallholder farmers, and help offset the impact of supply chain disruptions due to the pandemic.

Ashok Lavasa, ADB Vice-President for Private Sector Operations and Public–Private Partnerships, said smallholder farmers, who were already vulnerable to climate change, were facing increasing difficulties due to the pandemic, resulting in income loss, crop and food wastage, and supply chain disruptions.

“ADB’s assistance will help ensure reliable offtake to farmers, providing a direct way to preserve their livelihoods and their assets, while enabling them to invest in climate-resilient farming practices.”

An accompanying technical assistance (TA) grant will deliver capacity building and training activities, that will reinforce the benefits of sustainable and climate-resilient agricultural practices for cotton farmers in India and coffee farmers in Indonesia, the ADB said.

It added that the TA would support pilot-testing of drip irrigation in cotton fields in India, and use of biochar kilns in Indonesia, while assistance under the TA was expected to benefit about 4,000 farmers, particularly women.

The TA funding comprises $205,000 from ADB’s Technical Assistance Special Fund for COVID Recovery and $385,000 from the Strategic Climate Fund, administered by ADB, the statement said.