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ADB Preparing Project to Develop Irrigation and Water Resources of Afghanistan

MANILA, PHILIPPINES (5 November 2004) - The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a grant package totaling US$1.96 million to prepare a project to boost integrated water resources management and irrigated agriculture development in Afghanistan.

ADB is contributing a grant of $1.2 million toward the $2.06 million total cost of the technical assistance (TA) and will administer a grant of $760,000 equivalent provided by the Government of Canada. The Government of Afghanistan will finance the remaining $100,000 equivalent.

The TA and proposed project aim to improve water resource management at all levels in Afghanistan, from farm level to basin management. It will also rehabilitate, modernize and develop new irrigation and water resource infrastructure, lay the foundations of improved agricultural productivity, and ensure the integrity of watershed resources.

Little of the irrigation potential of the western basins in Afghanistan has been tapped. However, in the middle and lower Hari Rud basin, around Herat, 29 traditional irrigation systems exist with more than 500 km of main canals that irrigate 100,000 hectares as well as provide water for livestock, domestic use, and municipal supplies.

The existing systems, which are centuries old, are in need of serious repair as decades of civil unrest have impeded routine maintenance and starved the sector of resources. Also, few modern regulating structures exist and the systems need to be rationalized to eliminate duplication or resources and increase the irrigable area.

"Increasing the productivity of irrigated agriculture and strengthening water resource management are critical to improving the overall rural economy and reducing poverty," says Thomas Panella, an ADB Water Resources Specialist.

"In addition to improving existing systems, new land could be brought under irrigation in the western basins, providing significant benefits to rural communities."

No institutions exist to manage water at a basin level within the western basins and little data exist to allow adequate water resource planning.

Critical to sustaining the water resources on which irrigation depends are the watersheds in the western basins. These have come under increasing pressure and are severely degraded in many areas, greatly affecting the poor and other marginalized groups who depend on these resources.

Although improved irrigation is vital to increase agricultural productivity, other factors are involved. The Department of Agriculture lacks the capacity to deliver agricultural support services. Farmers need assistance with inputs, extension, postharvest facilities, and marketing.

The TA will take an integrated approach to designing a project that will establish the needed capacities and frameworks to support successful and sustainable programs and physical infrastructure.

Within an integrated water resource management framework, it will prepare an program based on feasibility studies for subprojects and civil works, policies and institutional frameworks, capacity building programs, service delivery mechanisms and strategies, and monitoring and evaluation procedures.

The Ministry of Finance is the executing agency for the TA, which is to be carried out over about eight months.

More at adb.org/media

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