Detailed Social and Gender Assessment
Horticulture Value Chain Infrastructure Project (RRP UZB 51041) Supplementary Document 17: Detailed Social and Gender Assessment SOCIAL AND GENDER ASSESSMENT A. Introduction 1. The importance of agriculture to the economy of Uzbekistan has significantly declined since 2000; in 2016, agriculture contributed 18.1% to the country’s gross domestic product (GDP),1 down from 34.4% in 2000. However, agriculture is the second largest employer after services, providing a third of national employment. Uzbekistan also continues to be the major supplier of fresh and processed fruits and vegetables to the neighboring countries, especially Kazakhstan, the Russian Federation, and 80 other countries around the world. Agriculture production also provides vital livelihood opportunities to majority of rural households. 2. The proposed project will finance the establishment of agro-logistics centers (ALCs), initially for horticulture, in two locations—Andijan and Samarkand—taking into account international best practices. Such infrastructure will provide all necessary facilities and services under one roof: storage, auction, food safety certification, customs clearance, quarantine, transport, shipping, expert market advice, trade finance and commercial banking etc. The project will help increase production of agricultural products with higher value-added and thus will directly and indirectly benefit significant number of people dealing with production, marketing, processing, storage and export of the agricultural produce. 3. The ALCs will help expand horticulture
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