17. Adherence to Scale-Up Facility (SUF) criteria. The project meets the criteria for eligibility for SUF funding. It has
been mobilized for the project primarily in view of its strong transformative development impact in terms of supporting
the market-oriented and inclusive transition of Uzbekistan’s agricultural sector. Project interventions are expected to
lead to substantial increases in production and productivity and to enable a strong response of private sector operators
all along the targeted value chains. Hence, the project’s return on investment is anticipated to be high. In addition, the
project will: (i) take account of the cross-cutting priorities regarding climate change and the resilience of production
systems in accordance with the country’s National Determined Contribution (NDC) priorities; (ii) address gender issues
with a focus on facilitating women’s access to agricultural inputs and services, financial support, and agro-logistics
centers; and (iii) foster regional integration as project interventions are expected to boost trade with neighboring
countries. Uzbekistan is an IDA-eligible country at low risk of debt distress
26
. Its favorable long-term debt sustainability
status is a positive factor regarding its use of financing under the SUF
.
18. The project follows the Maximizing Finance for Development (MFD) approach and donor collaboration’s objectives. The MFD engagement in agriculture and more specifically in the horticulture sub-sector uses a sequenced
approach to unleash the private sector potential (Annex 4). The first phase of the MFD engagement started in 2017 with
policy dialogue through Development Policy Operations (DPOs) and the Country Private Sector Diagnostic (CPSD) on
removing policy constraints for investment and export at scale. The second phase has focused on implementation support
of the initial reforms to develop horticulture value chains through the WB-financed HDP. The AMP will initiate the third
phase of MFD engagement by: (i) addressing key bottlenecks to private sector solutions in line with the Agricultural Strategy; (ii) using nuclear farms and lead agribusiness firms established with HDP’s support to foster productive
partnerships with smaller farms; (iii) working with the International Finance Corporation (IFC) on agri-finance and good
agricultural practices; and (iv) proactively collaborating with other donors in supporting agriculture (Annex 5).