PROJECT INFORMATION DOCUMENT (PID) CONCEPT STAGE Report No.: AB6173 Project Name. Bangladesh Integrated Agricultural Development Project Region

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1 Public Disclosure Authorized Public Disclosure Authorized Public Disclosure Authorized Public Disclosure Authorized PROJECT INFORMATION DOCUMENT (PID) CONCEPT STAGE Report No.: AB6173 Project Name Bangladesh Integrated Agricultural Development Project Region SOUTH ASIA Sector Agricultural extension and research (30%);Irrigation and drainage (25%);Crops (20%);Animal production (15%);General agriculture, fishing and forestry sector (10%) Project ID P Borrower(s) GOVERNMENT OF PEOPLES REP OF BANGLADESH Implementing Agency Ministry of Agriculture Bangladesh Tel: (880-2) Environment Category [ ] A [] B [ ] C [ ] FI [ ] TBD (to be determined) Date PID Prepared December 2, 2010 Estimated Date of July 8, 2011 Appraisal Authorization Estimated Date of Board Not applicable GAFSP funded projects do not go to Board and Approval are approved by RVP 1. Key development issues and rationale for Bank involvement Bangladesh has made considerable progress in development, sustaining high rates of economic growth and reducing poverty rate by 9% between 2000 and 2005 (from 49% to 40 %). The country is on track to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) related to human development such as child mortality and combating HIV/AIDS, where it has outperformed other countries in the region. In addition between 2000 and 2007, Bangladesh was largely selfsufficient in terms of production of its staple food rice. Despite these significant overall achievements, the country faces considerable challenges: pockets of extreme poverty persist (one-sixth of the total population of almost 150 million lives in extreme poverty); incidence of malnutrition is the highest in the world; the country is most at risk from natural shocks and highly vulnerable to forecast climate change patterns; and there are large areas with unfavorable agricultural environments (tidal surge prone [2 million ha], flood-prone [0.75 million ha] and drought prone [1.3 million ha]). Moreover, there exists a strong and durable interface between chronic poverty/food insecurity and unfavorable agricultural environments; this forms the motivational background of this project. Agricultural production in the selected districts is severely constrained in multiple ways: on-the-shelf technologies, adapted to the relevant agroecologies, are not available to farmers in the field; even in the case of currently cropped varieties, non-availability of quality seeds/breed and effective extension support, lowers their productivity below achievable potential; and insufficient water management investments/practices reduce productivity, diversity and intensity of agricultural production. The proposed project aims to sustainably enhance agricultural productivity in the selected areas by addressing these constraints in an integrated way through its three technical components.

2 This project is related to an application made by the Government of Bangladesh (GOB) to the Global Agriculture and Food Security Program (GAFSP) for grant funding in June That proposal was approved by the GAFSP Steering Committee, which awarded a grant amount of $50 million for this project, to be supplemented by US$ 17.5million by GOB. In making this grant, the Steering Committee noted Bangladesh s wish to have a separate Technical Assistance component. The Committee allocated $3.69 million for this purpose, to be channeled through FAO as the Supervising Entity. The balance of GAFSP grant of $46.31 million was allocated to the remaining components of the proposed June project, for which the World Bank was designated the Supervising Entity. The proposed project pertains to this part of the GAFSP grant plus the co-financing from GOB. 2. Project objective(s) The proposed Project Development Objective (PDO) of the Integrated Agricultural Development Project is to enhance the productivity of agriculture (crops, livestock and fisheries) in selected agro-ecologically constrained and economically depressed areas. These areas lie in Rangpur, Kurigram, Nilfamari and Lalmonirhat districts in the North and Barisal, Patuakhali, Barguna and Jhalokathi districts in the South. 3. Preliminary description Component 1: Technology Generation The purpose of this component is to undertake adaptive research to meet farmers needs in the selected project locations. The component will cover crops (rice, maize, wheat and oil seeds) and fisheries. The focus will be on adapting/developing and releasing to the farmers promising new crop varieties/hybrids, fish breeds and complementary production technologies that increase yield and provide technological solutions to production constraints under the agroecological conditions of project areas. It is expected that the varieties/technologies included will be at an advanced stage of evaluation so that these are passed on to the farmers in the first 1-2 years of the project, and are adapted by large number of farmers during project life. Specifically, the component will include: (i) evaluation and release of new varieties/hybrids of rice (higher yield, submergence, salt and heat tolerance, and short duration), maize (higher yield), wheat (short duration) and oil-seeds (higher yield, short duration); (ii) development/refinement of crop husbandry practices that are location-/ problem-specific; (iii) identification of yield gaps (between farmer level and research station yields) and strategies for bridging these gaps; and (iv) breed development for pond fish mono sex Tilapia, Pangas, Koi and other promising fish breeds. The adaptive research will be undertaken by the Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI), Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI) and Bangladesh Fisheries Research Institute (BFRI). Trials will be conducted on research farms as well as farmers fields as appropriate. Line departments (for extension) and farmers will be consulted in determining the choice of technologies to be developed and released under this component. Steps will be also taken to reduce the time lag in the adoption of improved technologies by the farmers by

3 strengthening research-extension-farmer linkages. The activities to be financed include incremental contractual staff, need-based equipment, incremental operating costs, staff mobility, validation and adaptation trial costs, collection of fish fries and fingerlings for genetic stock upgrading of pond fish, short term training for researchers, workshops and exposure visits. Results indicators for this component include number of new crop varieties released, number of new agronomic packages developed for dissemination, and increase in productivity of the targeted fish breed. Component 2: Technology Adoption The purpose of this component is to enable project area farmers to adopt improved varieties of seeds/hybrids and/or seeds/breeds and improved management practices for crops, livestock and fisheries so as to enhance their agricultural productivity. The emphasis will be on ensuring that farmers in a demonstration neighbourhood sustainably adopt the demonstrated technologies rather than on merely organizing successful demonstrations (as is the case in many extension programs). There will be four sub-components: (i) technology demonstration and dissemination (undertaken primarily by line departments),covering crop, fisheries and livestock; (ii) enhancing availability of good quality seed and related inputs at the farmer level and/or enhancing breed of livestock (undertaken through involvement of BADC, DAE, communitylevel seed production, and private sector involvement where appropriate); (iii) provision of appropriate support to farmers for absorbing the demonstrated technologies (undertaken primarily through farmers groups, back-stopped by line departments and CSOs or service providers where possible); and (iv) capacity building and training of farmers and their groups as well as for field level implementation staff (undertaken through a mix of relevant service providers and line departments). To enable the implementation of this component, Common Interest Groups (CIGs) of farmers will be used. Transparent and verifiable eligibility criteria for group membership will be clearly defined. (Pre-existing groups could function as CIGs under the project if they collectively satisfy the eligibility criteria.) The primary objective of the CIGs would be to observe and then absorb the technologies/practices demonstrated in their neighbourhoods. The groups will be provided various kinds of adoption support as appropriate from the project (seed-kits, seed drills, storage bins, other productive infrastructure, selected animals, and so on). Adoption of the improved technologies by the farmers (number, area, breeds and productivity outcomes) will be carefully monitored. Seed production will be promoted through specialized seed villages with support from BADC and DAE. In order to increase milk and goat meat production, the focus will be on breed upgradation, health improvement and feed/fodder management. In the case of fisheries, the focus will be on breed upgradation, health improvement, feed management, rehabilitation and stocking of community fish ponds. The expected results from this component are increase in number of farmers using improved technologies and practices, increase in replacement rate of good quality seed by farmers, and increase in milk and goat meat productivity. Component 3: Water Management The purpose of this component is to increase agricultural productivity and reduce yield variability by increasing both the availability and efficiency of water use by farmers in the

4 project area. A particular focus will be promoting interventions that reduce the heavy reliance on ground water reserves for boro rice production in the northern districts, and supporting interventions that mitigate the impacts from saline water intrusion along with providing supplementary irrigation water for Aman rice production in southern districts. There will be four sub-components: (i) small-scale system type improvements for conservation and utilization of surface water (undertaken through BADC); (ii) community-level improvements in surface water utilization and rain water harvesting - e.g., de-silting of community ponds (undertaken by WUGs); (iii) enhancing pump efficiency of Low Lift pumping and Shallow Tube Well pumping (undertaken through WUGs); and (iv) training and capacity building of WUGs and implementing agencies as appropriate (undertaken through appropriate service providers, CSOs). Sub-component (ii) will be financed by a criteria-based matching grant to interested and eligible WUGs. Sub-component (iii) will involve a strategic, customized training program to improve pump use efficiency by identifying the most practical and cost-effective source of efficiency gains in specific contexts. A particular focus will be on identifying and reducing input use inefficiencies. Sub-component (iv) will involve providing guidance on governance, operation and maintenance, collection of water user fees and best-practice irrigation agronomy to eligible Water User Groups (WUGs). Institutional capacity building support will be provided to relevant government agencies to improve the integration and delivery of water services to farmers. Expected results from this component include the expansion in the area under supplementary irrigation, increased availability of surface water for crop and livestock production, reduction in water conveyance and distribution losses, and energy saving from more efficient pumping and irrigation systems. These are expected to yield benefits in the form of increased (average) crop yields, especially in the drought prone areas; reduced variability of output in case of rain-fed crops like transplanted Aman rice; and greater availability of water for animal consumption and production in the dry seasons. Component 4: Project Management This component would finance all aspects of project management at the national and regional levels, including M&E. It is proposed there will be a central Project Management Unit (PMU) and two Regional PMUs, one in the North and one in the South. The PMU and RPMUs will coordinate, at their respective levels, the activities of various implementing agencies, including the research institutions, the line departments for extension, BADC (seeds and inputs supply), community level service providers and any CSO/NGO. Activities to be financed under this component include: (i) establishing and supporting project units at the overall and regional levels; (ii) specialized support services relating to key activities such as independent external M&E, external audit, financial accounting and procurement; and (iii) training of staff involved in project implementation. 4. Safeguard policies that might apply Safeguard Policy Triggered Yes No TBD Environmental Assessment (OP) (BP 4.01) The project proposes activities with potential environmental impacts including crop, livestock and fisheries production as well as water management activities such as irrigation infrastructure, de-siltation and

5 conservation of existing canals and ponds; therefore, it triggers the EA Policy. These impacts are not expected to be significantly negative or irreversible. Subprojects will not be identified during preparation and so the EA/EMP to be prepared will take a framework approach identifying potential impacts and potential mitigation measures as well as a strong mechanism (procedures and institutional responsibilities) for ensuring sustainable environmental management of the project. Safeguard Policy Triggered Yes No TBD Natural Habitats (OP) (BP 4.04) The project will finance fishery activities that may impact natural habitats such as natural ponds and, therefore the Natural Habitats Policy is triggered. It is important to note that the project will not cause any significant loss or degradation of natural habitats. The EA will analyze the implications of the project activities for natural habitats and identify a management approach to minimize potential harms to natural systems while maximizing benefits. Forests (OP (BP 4.36) Pest Management (OP 4.09) The project proposes activities comprised of crop (includes seed storage and distribution), livestock and fisheries production which will involve the use of pesticides; therefore the Pest Management Policy is triggered. The project EA/EMP will contain an Integrated Pest Management Plan to minimize the use of chemical pesticides where possible (banning restricted pesticides) and minimize harm to workers applying pesticides. The project will promote training and other capacity building where necessary to promote safe use of pesticides. Physical Cultural Resources (OP) (BP 4.11) Indigenous People (OP) (BP 4.10) Though there are indigenous people in Bangladesh, majority of them are located in the Chittagong Hill Tracts. In case presence of IPs is established through social assessment, OP 4.10 will be triggered. Involuntary Resettlement (OP) (BP 4.12) Since the availability of water for irrigation will be improved by rehabilitating existing surface water and rain water structures, rehabilitating and de-silting community ponds, chances of involuntary land taking does not exist. However, project will undertake social assessment and will prepare an Environment and Social Management Framework consistent with the Bank s OP 4.12 which will include screening format, resettlement policy and consultation framework; tribal development and gender action framework. Social screening will be carried out before undertaking any civil work and in case screening results show any adverse social impact, RAP will be prepared and cleared by the Bank before the mobilization of contractor. Safety of Dams (OP) (BP 4.37) Projects on International Waterways (OP) (BP 7.50) Projects on Disputed Areas (OP) (BP 7.60)

6 5. Tentative financing Source: ($m.) Borrower 17.5 Global Agriculture and Food Security Program 46.3 Total Contact point Contact: Animesh Shrivastava Title: Senior Agriculture Economist Tel: (202) Fax: