Announcement of Papua New Guinea to Improve Agricultural Support Services with a Fourteen Million One Hundred Thousand Dollars Loan from the World Bank on May 5, 1983

F.OR IMMEDIATE RELEASE eWorldBank 1818 H Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20433, U.S.A.• Telephone: (202) 477-1234 BANK NEWS RELEASE NO. 83/78 Contact: Hugh Blackman May 5, 1983 (202) 477-3573 PAPUA NEW GUINEA TO IMPROVE AGRICULTURAL SUPPORT SERVICES WITH A $14.1 MILLION LOAN FROM THE WORLD BANK Papua New Guinea will borrow $14.1 million to improve its agricultural support services, the World Bank announced today. The project, with a total cost of $24.3 million, will reorganize and strengthen the Department of Primary Industry (DPI) by providing additional staff, staff training and fellowships, and equipment and vehicles. It will also create a Crop Research Division to improve research support and laboratory services, and provide post-graduate training that will eventually permit the replacement~~ expatriate staff with nationals. Also included is the upgrading of the DPI's Branch for Planning, Economics and Marketing to help provincial planning efforts, production and marketing research, and industry evaluation • • The project will also strengthen the Information Section of DPI's Education and Training Branch to improve extension advisory services. It will assist in soil erosion studies and land evaluation for subsistence and cash cropping; strengthen animal disease and pest surveillance; and build up the quarantine inspection system. These activities will result in increased or more efficient production in smallholder cash cropping, subsistence agriculture, and estate production; prevent losses due to animal diseases; and increase the administrative efficiency and technical expertise of DPI staff. World Bank assistance to Papua New Guinea now totals $228 million. World Bank lending has emphasized agriculture, with strong support for education and transportation and, to a lesser degree, for energy. The loan from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) is for 17 years, including four years of grace, at an annual rate linked to the cost of Bank borrowings. The loan also carries an annual commitment charge of 0.75% on undisbursed balances and a front-end fee of 0.25% on the amount of the loan. • NOTE: Money figures are expressed in U.S. dollar equivalents •