IFAD invests $75 million to help mitigate drought in Andhra Pradesh

The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) will be providing $75.5 million  to improve incomes and strengthen drought resilience for 165,000 farming households in the five driest districts in Andhra Pradesh


An agreement to this effect was signed with the Union government on Thursday.

The total cost of the project is US$148.8 million. The project area will include Anantapur, Chittoor, Kadapa, Kurnool (in the Rayalaseema region) and Prakasam.

The financial and project agreements for the Andhra Pradesh Drought Mitigation Project were signed by Rasha Omar, Country Director and Representative, IFAD; Sameer Kumar Khare, Joint Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, Government of India; and Budithi Rajsekhar, Special Chief Secretary Agriculture, Department of Agriculture and Cooperation, Government of Andhra Pradesh.

The new project will help farmers to produce drought-tolerant crop varieties, manage soil fertility and moisture, and access weather information. It will also introduce practises such as harvesting and storing rainwater, managing rangelands to prevent overgrazing, and establishing backyard poultry-raising.

 

“The project aims to build smallholder farmers’ adaptive capacity to drought. It will also help farmers shift to more diversified yet profitable cropping systems which require less water, as well as to diversify income and food sources by integrating small ruminants into farm production systems,” said Omar.

The southern region of Andhra Pradesh is one of the areas in India that is most vulnerable to changes in climate patterns. For example, rainfall is low and unreliable, with frequent droughts. Soils have low water-holding capacity and groundwater is depleted. Soil fertility is poor and smallholder farmers often do not have access to improved and drought tolerant seed varieties. 

In the past, farmers have not had access to the information and techniques that would help them adapt to changing weather conditions and secure food for their households throughout the year.

 A specialized United Nations agency and international financial institution, IFAD has financed 28 rural development programmes and projects in India since 1979, with a total IFAD investment of $1 billion or $2.75 billion when  co-funding from the Indian government and others are included. These projects have directly benefitted more than 4.5 million rural households.