Announcement of the World Bank's Credit to Revitalize India's Agriculture Sector on March 31, 1995

FOR IlMEDIATE RELEASE The World Bank 1818 H Street, N.W., Washington, D.C., 20433, USA News Release No. 95/47/SA IDA CREDIT TO REVITALIZE INDIA'S AGRICULTURE SECTOR WASHINGTON, March 31, 1995- The International Development Association (IDA) approved a credit of SDR 40.5 million' ($59.5 million) yesterday to support the Government of India's efforts to modernize its agricultural sector by developing and enhancing the skills and knowledge of people working in the sector to increase agricultural productivity. IDA is the concessional lending affiliate of the World Bank. The project will improve the skills and efficiency of the sector's workforce and will protect and enhance the benefits derived from the considerable investments, research and other services that have already been made in agricultural research and extension. By strengthening the Indian Council of Agricultural Research's (ICAR) capacity to set norms and standards in agricultural universities, the project will foster a national upgrading of the quality of higher agricultural education. Research done on current labor market requirements will allow graduates to be better trained for the agricultural job market. The quality of teaching will be improved by better access to teaching resources and systematic teacher and course assessments. A key benefit of the project will be the establishment of professional contacts in scientific fields worldwide, which will expose Indian educators and scientists to education, education technology and scientific research abroad. India has a vast agricultural sector which supports 70 percent of the country's population and 80 percent of its poor, while generating 20 percent of its export earnings. Modernizing and boosting the growth of the sector depends on diversifying to higher-value crops and introducing integrated farming systems. This requires a well-trained, motivated, better-managed manpower pool in the public and private sectors in a wide range of new fields. The IDA project will be implemented over five years and will be the first phase of a long- term program to improve human resource development in the agriculture sector. The project has four components: Strengthening of ICAR's capacity (base cost $10.1 million) to establish norms and standards for agricultural education to foster academic improvement. Three participating states-Andhra Pradesh, Haryana and Tamil Nadu-will carry out subprojects. Each participating state's subproject will include: 1 IDA credits are denominated in SDRs (Special Drawing Rights), which are valued on the basis of a "basket" of currencies. The US dollar equivalent of the SDR amount reflects the exchange rates existing at the time of the negotiations of the credit. Archives/Records Center, H B1-001 ( 1) * University programs (base cost $41.8 million) to facilitate: o curriculum and syllabus reform; o improvement in the quality of faculty members; o revitalization of teaching methods; o initiation of faculty exchanges within India and with foreign universities; o modernization of university administration and management systems; o upgrading of teaching laboratory equipment, computer systems, communications, farms, libraries and hostels; and o establishment of placement centers and student attachment programs to industries within the agricultural sector. * Upgrade of human resources management (base cost $17.6 million). The project will support in-service human resources and management programs, to include: o focusing of training to meet the skills requirements of state-level agriculture and agriculture-related positions; o systematic training needs assessments; o training of trainers; " evaluation of training effectiveness; o better instructional facilities; and o improved management of public sector employees. * Manpower needs assessment (base cost $0.3 million), which will establish a broad-based Manpower Advisory Council to sponsor rigorous studies of labor market requirements and trends within each state. These studies will provide state authorities and university officials with up-to-date technical information so they can craft public policy, academic programs, budgets and adjustments to university intake numbers. The total cost of the project is estimated at $74.2 million. The IDA credit of $59.5 million will cover 90 percent of project costs, with the Government of India and the three participating states picking up the remaining costs. As a complement to the project the Government of Switzerland, through the Swiss Development Cooperation, is expected to finance an international panel of experts to advise ICAR and participating universities on carrying out education and management reform programs. The IDA credit is made on standard IDA terms with 35 years maturity. NOTE-All money figures are expressed in US dollar equivalent. For further information contact: Paul Mitchell or Kerry Smyth Tel: (202) 458-1423 or (202) 458-9031 Fax: (202) 477-1245 Internet: pmitchelll@worldbank.org