World Bank signed Loan Agreement for Odisha Farmers

Current context: The Odisha state government, Government of India and the World Bank have signed a $165 million loan agreement on 24th October 2019.

 

• The loan agreement has been signed to strengthen the production system and support smallholder farmers of Odisha.
• The project is named an Odisha Integrated Irrigation Project for Climate Resilient Agriculture.
• The project will be implemented in rural areas that are vulnerable to droughts and are highly dependent on rainfed agriculture.
• It will aid resilience against adverse climate by:

1. Improving access to resilient seed varieties and production technologies.
2. Diversifying towards more climate-resilient crops.
3. Improving access to better water management and irrigation services.

• In Odisha, farming is largely dominated by farmers with landholdings of less than two hectares and the frequency of droughts in the state has increased from 1 in 5 years to 1 in 2 years.
• The $165 million loan from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), has a maturity of 24 years and a 6-year grace period.

Question: 

Q.1 Recently the World Bank has signed a $165 million loan agreement for a Climate Resilient Agricultural Project with which state?
a. Madhya Pradesh
b. Odisha
c. Chhattisgarh
d. Rajasthan