Announcement of IDA Supports Agricultural Research in India on October 27, 1978

' FO~ l'MMEDIATE RELEASE I' eWorldBank 1818 H Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20433, U.S.A.• Telephone: (202) 477-1234 IDA NEWS RELEASE NO. 79/21 OCTOBER 27, 1978 !DA SUPPORTS AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH IN INDIA The International Development Association (IDA), the World Bank's soft-loan affiliate, today announced the approval of a $27 million credit to India for a national agricultural research project. The $54 million project will deal with agricultural problems and help narrow the gap between research programs and the needs of farmers for new technology and information. India has made notable progress in recent years toward the devel- opment of a highly effective agricultural research system8 The system, comprising the Indian Agricultural Research Institute and 21 state agricul- • tural universities, has demonstrated its effectiveness in several important areas, notably in wheat, rice, and maize production. The project will devote most of the IDA credit to finance research subprojects at zonal research stations of selected state agricultural uni- vers1t1es. The project will stress applied research to improve local farming practices for production of grain and oilseed·crops, particularly for rainfed areas. The capability of the Indian Council on Agricultural Research to support and coordinate research at state level will be strengthened and training facilities of the Indian Agricultural Research Institute and the Staff College of the Indian Council for Agricultural Research will also be imp roved. The IDA credit is for 50 years including a grace period of 10 years. It bears no interest but carries a service charge of 3/4 of 1% to cover administrative costs. NOTE: Money figures are expressed in U.S. dollar equivalents • • FORM NO. 1121 (5-76) T E C HN I CA L DA TA PROJECT: COUNTRY: TOTAL COST: National Agricultural Research India $54 million • IDA FINANCING: $27 million, standard IDA terms. OTHER FINANCING: Government of India and state agricultural universities IMPLEMENTING ORGANIZATION: Indian Counc i 1 for Pig r i cul tu ra 1 Research ( I CAR) Krishi Bhawan Dr. Rajendra Prasad Road New De 1h i l 10 00 l , I nd i a PROJECT DESCRIPTION: It will strengthen and reorient research at state agricultural universities and strengthen the ability of the Indian Council forAgricultural Research to support and coordinate agricultural research at the state level. The project will focus on research on higher yielding, more disease and pest resistant varieties of grain and oilseed crops, and on improved cropping patterns and • agronomic practices, particularly for rainfed areas. PROCUREMENT: Al 1 civil works will be relatively small and consist of research facilities, housing, and farm development, mostly located at some distance from major cities, and undertaken by different universities scattered throughout the country. It will neither be feasible nor economic to group such works into large contracts for international competitive bidding (ICB). Awards for construction works will instead be made after local competitive bidding. The procurement procedures will be satisfactory to IDA. Procurement of equipment consisting of small orders for a great diversity of equipment wil 1 not be suitable for ICB and wil 1 be procured by standard university procedures satisfactory to IDA. ECONOMIC RATE OF RETURN: ESTIMATED COMPLETION DATE: n. a .. 1983 - 0 - •