ISLAMABAD: The World Bank has approved two projects worth $400 million for Pakistan with an aim to support interventions in reducing food insecurity from the outbreak of locusts, and measures to restore education for schools closed due to Covid-19.
The financing of $200 million for the ‘Locust Emergency and Food Security Project (LEAFS)’ will support emergency actions to control the locust outbreak and prevent further spread across Pakistan and South Asia region, said a statement issued by the bank on Monday.
This would be the World Bank’s first agriculture project at federal level in Pakistan since 2010, when the 18th amendment had devolved agriculture and rural affairs to provinces.
Of the total project cost, $125 million would be financed from the International Development Association (IDA).
Commenting on the approval of the two projects, WB Country Director for Pakistan Illango Patchamuthu said that the compounded impact of the locust outbreak and Covid-19 pandemic calls for urgent, coordinated and targeted actions to secure Pakistan’s agricultural economy and improve educational systems to protect human capital.
”Together, these projects will contribute to short- and long-term goals to increase Pakistan’s food security and achieve greater equity for students across the country,” he stated.
According to the WB statement, the LEAFS project will benefit at least six million farmers and agricultural labourers, of which approximately 30pc are women, by addressing the negative impacts on the livelihoods of farmers and labourers living in areas where crop damage and losses are most severe.