BP and its co-venturers in the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli (ACG), Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC), Shah Deniz (SD), and South Caucasus Pipeline (SCP) projects are pleased to announce the recent award of a grant to enhance economic development through strengthening the agricultural sector in the Garadaghly community in the Ujar district along the BTC and SCP pipelines.
The project will mainly target those community members who are involved in the agricultural sector, including small landowners, farmers, traders, processors, providers of agricultural services and suppliers.
The project is designed to provide sustainable income through combining tangible benefits including provision of fodder crops seeds, vegetable seeds and a new fodder processing facility, along with transfer of relevant agricultural and business skills and knowledge to agricultural producers and processors.
The project will be implemented by Ganja Agribusiness Association (GABA) – a local non-governmental organisation established in 1996. GABA was selected to deliver the project based on a competitive selection exercise conducted as part of the solicitation process within BP and co-venturers’ Sustainable Development Initiative along the BTC and SCP pipelines.
Project activities will include provision of community members with agricultural material and facilities to enhance their economic development, as well as building business and technical capacity through training in related fields such as new farming technologies and methods, seed distribution and introduction of organic agriculture in order to improve the quality and quantity of vegetable crops and livestock. In addition, farmers will be trained in agricultural techniques to prevent desertification and erosion, reclaim land for cultivation to improve productivity.
“Our experience from the community programmes along BTC and SCP shows that the project results are more effective if you provide community members with the right opportunities combined with required skills. We believe this will help ensure that the project results are sustainable and economically viable”, says Ibrahim Ismayilov, BP’s Sustainable Development Initiatives Manager.
The total value of the project is about $121,000 of which BP and co-venturers’ share is over $ 110,000. The community and the implementing partner will contribute the remaining part - about $11,000.
The duration of the project is one year with the end date of November 2010
Tamam Bayatly, BP Baku Press office, telephone: 994 (0) 12 599 4557