EU funds new agriculture projects in India, Bangladesh, Nepal
(June 28, 2011) The European Union has agreed to fund agriculture projects, in partnership
with the Church-based social action group Caritas, in Nepal, Bangladesh and India
to assist small farmers to cope with the effects of global climate change. The program,
titled “Building Resilience to Climate Change through Strengthening Adaptive Small
Scale Farming Systems in Rain-fed Areas in Bangladesh, India and Nepal”, was launched
last week during a five-day workshop. Father Silas Bogati, director of Caritas Nepal,
said the joint South Asian project was a five-year program scheduled to run through
March 2016, with the EU providing 600,000 Euros to about 1,000 farmers in the western
districts of Kaski, Nawalparasi and Bardiya. He said about 50 percent of the target
recipients would be women, with members of hill tribe minorities comprising about
40 percent of the target group. Kamal Khadka, program director for Local Initiatives
for Biodiversity Research and Development, a partner of Caritas Nepal, said that Bangladesh,
India and Nepal rank first, second and fourth in terms of vulnerability to global
climate change. Lluis Navarro, charge d’affaires of the EU mission to Nepal, and Australian
Ambassador to Nepal Susan Grace, attended the launch of the workshop. Navarro said
that the EU has invested 23.3 million Euros in the last two years in Nepal as part
of its Global Program on Agriculture Research for Development.