Announcement of World Bank Lends One Hundred Million Dollars for Agricultural Extension in Brazil on May 18, 1978

- FOR IM~EDIATE RELEASE ,s "" ' - •World Bank 1818 H Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20433, U.S.A. • Telephone: (202) 393-6360 BANK NEWS RELEASE NO. 78/90 MAY 18, 1978 WORLD BANK LENDS $1£~ MILLION FOR AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION IN BRAZIL About 1.3 mill ion farmers in Brazi1--most of them 1 iving in the poorest rural areas of the country--will receive improved agricultural extension services as a result of a project to be assisted with a $100 million loan from the World Bank. Of this number, some 735,000 farmers will receive extension services for the first time. The project will be implemented mainly in the three priority regions of the North, Northeast and Center-West, where the majority of Brazil's rural poor 1 i ve. The agricultural extension project is designed.to strengthen, over a four- • year period, the federal and state institutions responsible for providing agri- cultural extension services. It will support the Government's programs ~o increase production, significantly speed development of the least developed areas of the country, and improve farmer's productivity. About two-thirds of the total investment, estimated at $284.9 mi~lion, and tv10-thi rds of the farming production system and demonstration field trials included in the project, will be for helping small farmers and fishermen. Most of them have per capita incomes below $380, the relative poverty level in the rural areas of Brazil. The project complements an agricultural research project, supported in 1976 by a World Bank loan of $40 mill ion. It also supplements another project, partially funded by the Inter-American Deveiopment Bank, which provides assistance to research and extension programs in the South and Southeast regions. The $100 mill ion loan to the Federative Republic of Brazil will have a term of 15 years, including 3 years of grace, with interest at 7.5% per annum. NOTE: Money figures are expressed in U.S. dollar equivalents . • FORM NO. 1121 (5-76) T E C HN I CA L DA T A PROJECT: COUNTRY: TOTAL COST: Agricultural Extension Brazil $284.9 mill ion • BANK FINANCING: $100 million for a term of ~5 years, including 3 years of grace, with interest at 7.5% per annum. OTHER FlNANClNG: Government of Brazil, $111 million; State and Territorial Governments, $73.9 mill ion. IMPLEMENTING ORGANIZATION: Empresa Brasileira de Assistencia Tecnica e Extensao Rural ( EMBRATER), Av. W-3 tJorte, Q515, Gloco C 70.000 Brasilia, D.F. Brazil PROJECT DESCRIPTION: It includes: (i) Programs to improve and strengthen existing state agricultural extension service facilities by providing additional staff, library documentation and current data services, audio-visual aids, training facilities, offices and facilities for crop production and small-scale fisheries cooperatives; (ii) deve]opment of technical and administrative staff capability through pre-service and in-service training, specialized short courses and graduate training for selected senior staff; (iii) technical assistance to the agricultural extension agencies and studies on extension methods; and (iv) specific operational programs oriented toward low-income farmers, such as research to develop new production systems and field demon-lJ strations to disseminate improved agronomic practices; support for artisanal fisheries communities; and establishment of pilot crop production and fisheries cooperatives. PROCUREMENT: Civil works will be contracted through competitive bidding advertised nationally in the case of training centers and EMATER (Empresa de Assistencia Tecnica e Extensao Rural) offices and locally in the case of other facilities. About 4,260 vehic~es will be procured under the project, over a period of four years, on the basis of competitive bidding advertised locally and in accordance with local procedures. Contracts for farm and fisheries equipment, office equipment, and furniture will also be awarded on the basis of competitive bidding advertised locally and in accordance with local procet~;~~5 In the case of printing, audio-visual and communications equipment, local competitive bidding under procedures acceptable to the Bank will be followed for items estimated to cost $10,000 or more, and prudent shopping wi 11 be followed for items of lesser value. Library equipment and furnishings will be procured according to normal Government procedures. CONSULTANTS: Seventy-five man-years of consulting services in administration, monitoring and evaluation, training and human resource develop- ment, architecture and engineering, extension methods research, communications, fiscal management, and data processing, wi 11 be provided. ECONOMIC RATE OF RETURN: ESTIMATED COMPLETION DATE: 14% 1982 - 0 - •