The Bank’s assistance package for the project will comprise a credit of $23.6m from the International Development Association (IDA), the World Bank’s concessionary lending arm, and an IDA grant of $19.4m.
The scheme, placed in Kailali District, constitutes three independent, traditional irrigation systems constructed, operated, and managed by generations of farmers, mainly from the indigenous Tharu community.
Under the first phase, the project will support the modernization of the irrigation system by rehabilitating and upgrading the main and secondary irrigation and drainage systems and flood management infrastructure.
The project will also support the modernization of the irrigation system by training Water Users Associations to improve their ability to manage the water and maintain the infrastructure.
The implementing agency will also carry out a series of agriculture production support activities in the project area through demonstrations, farmers’ field schools, and other adaptive processes.
World Bank Nepal country director Ellen Goldstein said the project will improve the reliability of water supply and help farmers better manage risks associated with droughts, floods and fluctuations in the availability of water during the agricultural seasons.
