INTEGRATED SAFEGUARDS DATA SHEET CONCEPT STAGE Public Disclosure Copy Report No.: ISDSC2416 Date ISDS Prepared/Updated: 09-May-2013 Date ISDS Approved/Disclosed: 28-May-2013 I. BASIC INFORMATION A. Basic Project Data Country: Kyrgyz Republic Project ID: P132754 Project Name: AGRICULTURE PRODUCTIVITY AND NUTRITION IMPROVEMENT PROJECT (P132754) Task Team Pieter David Meerbach Leader: Estimated 17-Jun-2013 Estimated 19-Aug-2013 Appraisal Date: Board Date: Managing Unit: ECSAR Lending Specific Investment Loan Instrument: Sector(s): Irrigation and drainage (60%), Agricultural extension and research (20%), Health (20%) Theme(s): Rural services and infrastructure (40%), Nutrition and food security (30%), Water resource management (30%) Financing (In USD Million) Public Disclosure Copy Total Project Cost: 16.50 Total Bank Financing: 0.00 Total Cofinancing: Financing Gap: 0.00 Financing Source Amount Borrower 0.00 Global Agriculture and Food Security Program 16.50 Total 16.50 Environmental B - Partial Assessment Category: Is this a Yes Repeater project? B. Project Objectives C. Project Description The project will have four components: (i) rehabilitation and modernization of physical irrigation and drainage (I&D) infrastructure, (ii) agricultural advisory services; (iii) nutrition interventions; and (iv) project management. The project will be implemented in selected areas nationwide. The original Government proposal to the GAFSP included a component on institutional development and capacity Public Disclosure Copy building, and this component will be financed through a separate trust fund financed by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC). Component 1: Rehabilitation and Modernization of I&D Infrastructure (estimated costs US$ 11.5 million). This component will focus on the rehabilitation and modernization of the existing command area of I&D systems on 30,000 ha managed by 18 WUAs and WUA Federations and the provision of essential maintenance equipment to WUAs. Works to be carried out include the rehabilitation/ construction of on-farm I&D canals, outlets and other hydraulic structures, and some limited rehabilitation works on critical off-farm infrastructure. WUAs will be required to repay part of the costs relating to their I&D system to a WUA Support Fund, dedicated to provide financial assistance to other WUAs. Capacity-building for WUAs will be financed under a technical assistance project under parallel-financing of SDC. Component 2: Agricultural Advisory Services (estimated costs US$ 1.5 million). This component will finance the provision of agricultural advisory services to enhance the impact of irrigation and drainage rehabilitation. The Project will build the capacity of water user associations, farmer cooperatives or community-based organizations such as or farmer koshuuns (established in all Aiyl Okmotus under the Bank-funded Agricultural Investments and Services Project) to undertake an assessment of their rural advisory needs building on existing efforts to build demand led advisory services. Services will include: (i) participatory rural appraisal to determine available resources and market opportunities; (ii) preparation of agricultural development priorities and plans for each community; (iii) preparation of terms of reference for advisory services to support communities in implementing agricultural development plans; (iv) provision of advisory services, which may include support in accessing finance and inputs, marketing support, and provision of technical advice and demonstrations on topics such as on-farm planning and management, agronomy, crop production, farm diversification, livestock husbandry, water resources management, soil protection, and Public Disclosure Copy integrated pest management. Component 3: Scaling-up Nutrition Interventions (estimated costs US$2.5 million). The purpose of this component is to improve the nutrition levels of beneficiaries, especially women and children, to provide more sustainable solutions to malnutrition and stunting. There are five key areas of intervention identified in the GAFSP proposal which will be considered for inclusion during preparation: (i) Supplemental feeding, through providing pregnant women with daily supplements of vitamins and minerals to meet their substantially increased nutritional requirements and children aged 6-24 months with micronutrients; (ii) Nutrition education program on breastfeeding and on water sanitation and hygiene; (iii) Social protection, making communities aware of the eligibility criteria and requirements for accessing social protection via the government’s social payments; (iv) Dietary diversification, working with household plots commonly cultivated by women, to improve dietary intake by increasing the production and adequate consumption of micro-nutrient rich foods; (v) Technical assistance will be provided to work with multi-agency working groups to facilitate the preparation of food security, nutrition and sector strategies to ensure the linkages and effects of health, nutrition and agriculture are properly incorporated. Special emphasis of this TA will be on evaluating options for enforcing mandatory salt iodinization and flour fortification. Project preparation will carefully consider each of the proposed areas of intervention in order to identify the most suitable activities for inclusion under the project. Component 4 – Project Management (estimated costs US$ 1.0 million). This component will provide the technical assistance, capacity building and day-to-day management, including administration, project coordination, procurement, financial management and monitoring and evaluation in line with Public Disclosure Copy World Bank procedures. In order to maximize cost effectiveness, qualified existing staff within the OIP-2 PIU will be used to the extent possible, with the core team comprising a project manager, one engineer based in Bishkek, two regional engineers, an M&E team with two specialists, a financial manager, two procurement specialists, institutional specialist and policy/strategy specialist. Appropriate staffing and technical assistance for all components will be identified during preparation. The Department of Water Resources (DWR) within the Ministry of Agriculture and Land Improvement (MOALI) will be the executing agency for the Project. Project preparation and implementation will be monitored by a working group comprising key project stakeholders. As the secretariat to the Food Security Council, MOALI is well placed to provide the essential coordination role of these stakeholders in the multi-sector approach being adopted. The geographical scope is determined by the raions where the WUAs are selected, according to selection criteria used under the OIP-2. To align with ongoing efforts for inclusion and enhanced participation, the WUAs selected under the project will reflect demographic and geographic balance. This will ensure a balanced beneficiary population with equitable representation of various demographic groups. The WUAs will provide the initial target for the agricultural advisory services and nutrition intervention components. Both components will be aimed at WUA members but will be extended appropriately to include household plot owners, vulnerable groups, and Village Health Committees (VHCs) to identify women, children and vulnerable groups. The project does not introduce new interventions, but expands or builds on activities under on-going or successfully completed projects. Component 1, Irrigation Rehabilitation, expands WUA rehabilitation financed by the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank (ADB). Component 2, Agricultural Advisory Services, builds on experiences with the Rural Advisory Services supported by the World Bank, International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the SDC. Component 3 builds on established VHCs and nutrition interventions supported through projects Public Disclosure Copy financed or implemented by the World Bank, ADB, UNICEF and the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN). This component further contributes to better targeting of the most vulnerable population using a community-based approach. D. Project location and salient physical characteristics relevant to the safeguard analysis (if known) The proposed project will likely target a number of irrigation systems that draw water from rivers that are international waterways as defined by of OP 7.50. The exact locations of these irrigation systems are not known at this point. Nevertheless, as with OIP-2, the most likely rivers to be affected by the project include the Naryn River and its tributaries, the Talas River and its tributaries, and the Chui River and its tributaries. E. Borrowers Institutional Capacity for Safeguard Policies The Implementing Agency for the proposed project will be the Project Implementation Unit (PIU) established under the Department of Water Resources of the Ministry of Agriculture and Land Improvement. The PIU has proven its technical and managerial capacity, basedon experience with OIP-1 and OIP-2, to effectively address any safeguard policy issues raised by the proposed project and to implement any preventive actions/mitigation measures that may be recommended by the project’s Environmental Management Plan. As it did under OIP-1 and OIP-2, the PIU will employ a national environmental specialist on a part-time basis to supervise project impacts during and after construction activities, perform environmental monitoring of soil conditions and water quality, and provide capacity building in environmental monitoring and management. F. Environmental and Social Safeguards Specialists on the Team Public Disclosure Copy Alexei Slenzak (ECSEN) Aly Zulficar Rahim (ECSSO) II. SAFEGUARD POLICIES THAT MIGHT APPLY Safeguard Policies Triggered? Explanation (Optional) Environmental Assessment OP/ Yes The project has been classified as Category 'B' BP 4.01 for purposes of OP 4.01 on Environmental Assessment because it is not expected to involve any large scale, significant or irreversible adverse environmental impacts. Experience with both OIP-1 and OIP-2 to date has shown this to be the case. The project will not involve the construction of new irrigation systems. Any potential adverse environmental impacts are not expected to be significant and can be effectively prevented or minimized by application of appropriate preventive actions and/or mitigation measures. These measures are identified in the Environmental Management Plan (EMP), of which a draft has been prepared, based on the EMP of the OIP-2 AF. Since the original EMP of the OIP-2 AF was disclosed and subject to public consultation at the national level, the EMP for this project will be disclosed and Public Disclosure Copy consulted with WUAs and project areas which will directly benefit from the project activities, during project implementation. It was agreed that the updated EMP should be disclosed prior to Appraisal. There will be formal public consultation meeting prior to Appraisal because this was done for the current version of the EMP recently, and no substantive changes to the EMP were made. It was agreed that the Team will share the draft TOR for the Advisory Services component with the RSA when it is available. Natural Habitats OP/BP 4.04 No Forests OP/BP 4.36 No Pest Management OP 4.09 Yes Training on Integrated Pest Management will be provided under the project by the Rural Advisory Services (RAS). The RAS are well experienced in this kind of training. Physical Cultural Resources OP/ No BP 4.11 Public Disclosure Copy Indigenous Peoples OP/BP 4.10 No Involuntary Resettlement OP/BP Yes Resettlement impact is expected at the 4.12 rehabilitation site of Shakaftar headworks and canal that supplies irrigation water to 1,500 ha of agricultural lands owned by farmers. A basin for settling sediments in the canal is expected to be partially situated on private land and will require land acquisition. A Resettlement Action Plan is being prepared for the site and will be consulted, finalized and disclosed prior to appraisal. No other resettlement is foreseen at this time, but should the need arise, appropriate measures will be taken under the triggered policy. Safety of Dams OP/BP 4.37 Yes As did OIP-2 before it, the project will follow a program approach, with the WUA-managed irrigation systems eligible for rehabilitation to be selected during the first years of AF implementation. Therefore, it is not yet known whether there are any systems with water storage reservoirs implicated in the project. However, experience under OIP-1 and OIP-2 indicates that it is likely that several systems will be selected that have small (less than 15 m in height) dams. Once this has been determined, Public Disclosure Copy appropriate actions to ensure dam safety, including more detailed inspections and safety measures, will be taken. In the case of small- scale irrigation dams and night storage reservoirs that may be part of a selected irrigation system, special guidelines governing this situation will prepared and included in the EMP. Before any rehabilitation activities can take place at an irrigation system to which these guidelines apply, the PIU will contract a qualified national design firm to make an engineering and safety assessment of the irrigation dam or storage reservoir in question, and prepare designs for the recommended measures. The consultants who will carry out the safety assessment will also look into the potential consequences of dam failure, including such principal criteria as the number of people at risk, and economic assets downstream that should be used to prioritize any intervention aimed at improving dam safety. The design Public Disclosure Copy engineers will also be retained to provide construction supervision of the rehabilitation works. The PIU will contract a qualified engineering contractor, one that has experience with small earthen dams and/or small storage reservoir systems, to perform the remedial measures recommended in the engineering and safety assessment. The PIU, through the engineering team, will oversee the implementation of any remedial measures performed at irrigation dams or storage reservoirs under the project. This procedure has worked satisfactorily under OIP-1. Projects on International Yes The irrigation systems that will be rehabilitated Waterways OP/BP 7.50 under the project draw water from rivers that are international waterways shared by the Kyrgyz Republic with neighboring Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. Potential changes in water flow or deterioration in water quality during the construction works will be mitigated through implementation of the EMP. As there will not be any enlargement of existing irrigation systems or development of any new irrigation areas, project interventions are not Public Disclosure Copy expected to adversely affect the quality or quantity of water flows to downstream riparian states. The rehabilitation and modernization of infrastructure and improvements in water management should result in an increase in system efficiency, thereby generating water savings and providing reliable water supply to the users. Considering all this, the project falls under the exception to the notification requirement contained in the safeguard policy, approved by the Vice President for Europe and Central Asia Region for OIP-2 on March 20, 2007. The task team will submit a request for a similar exception to the notification for this project, since the planned interventions are identical. Projects in Disputed Areas OP/BP No 7.60 III. SAFEGUARD PREPARATION PLAN A. Tentative target date for preparing the PAD Stage ISDS: 30-Apr-2013 Public Disclosure Copy B. Time frame for launching and completing the safeguard-related studies that may be needed. The specific studies and their timing1 should be specified in the PAD-stage ISDS: Update to EMP - March 10, 2013 EMP finalized - April 28, 2013 Update to RAP for Shakaftar - March 4, 2013 Original EMP disclosed during preparation of the OIP-2 AF. Updated EMP will be disclosed and consulted with WUAs selected for rehabilitation during project implementation. IV. APPROVALS Task Team Leader: Name: Pieter David Meerbach Approved By: Regional Safeguards Name: Date: Coordinator: Sector Manager: Name: Dina Umali-Deininger (SM) Date: 28-May-2013 Public Disclosure Copy 1 Reminder: The Bank's Disclosure Policy requires that safeguard-related documents be disclosed before appraisal (i) at the InfoShop and (ii) in country, at publicly accessible locations and in a form and language that are accessible to potentially affected persons.