The $31 million loan agreement, which was signed between the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock, and the Asian Development Bank, on June 14, should mark the beginning of implementation of the ambitious corporate farming plan, which had remained virtually in abeyance, ever since its inception.
There can be no denying the fact that a number of approaches had been hastily chalked out for its implementation, in view of its tremendous potential, but progress in putting in place its component schemes had remained beset by a number of primarily problems, lack of an objective planning encompassing all its dimensions. Now that the loan agreement has been clearly linked to a well defined "agribusiness development project", aimed at helping develop a competitive and sustainable sub-sector in agriculture, there should remain little to doubt its purpose and prospects.
Many and varied being the perceptions of agriculture related schemes of things, all the ambiguities about the specific purpose and scope of the project should come to an end. For, unlike the case in other agriculture related initiatives thus far, it takes the focus away from the traditional approach of addressing the plight of variously handicapped small growers, often confused with subsistence farmers.
It will be noted that by its very nomenclature, that is, "agribusiness development project" brings to the fore the clear concept of farming as an industry, in which operations and business are necessarily associated with large-scale farming. Moreover, according to ADB, the project is aimed at establishing market-based approaches to enhanced technical and managerial capacity in this sub-sector of agriculture.
Moreover, it seeks to dismantle barriers to entry for new enterprises and expansion of existing ones into new markets. Notably, major interventions are set to revolve around removal of the constraints this sector has been facing, beginning with production by growers to marketing, and ultimately, leading to export of the products.
It will, however, be noted that the project totally ignores small-scale farming and concentrates on large-scale industry. The project will focus on horticulture and horti-business also, while provision has been made for actions to improve the livestock and dairy institutional framework. ADB has pointed out that commercial agriculture and agribusiness development have remained constrained by poor infrastructure, faulty governance policies and practices, with limited access to modern technology, financial and business development services further hampering their development.
Again, the main objective of the project being to support economic growth and employment generation, with the development of a competitive and sustainable agribusiness sector, it would seek to improve enterprises in agribusiness to ensure access to technical services, and to strengthen service providers, in order to enhance skills besides facilitating financial assistance and developing institutional capacity.
It is encouraging to learn that an agribusiness support fund will be established to provide farmers, individuals or groups, and entrepreneurs with demand-driven technical and managerial services, to improve their productivity and competitiveness. Also aimed at are other adequately defined approaches.
These include increasing access to agribusiness finance from financial institutions, provision of capacity building for horticulture and horti-business, streamlining collection and dissemination of market information, strengthening of technical training capacity, upgrading testing and certification facilities for seeds, nurseries, and crops, and building awareness of international agricultural product standards and practices. Mention, in this regard, may also be made of the provision of help in revising and updating regulatory framework and formulation of a national agribusiness policy and provincial horticulture policies, besides project management support, to pave the way for sustained all-round development of the agriculture sector.