ISLAMABAD, August 5 (INP): The Government of Japan on Monday announced grant aid worth around $5.2 million to the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) to support Pakistan’s Agri-Food and Agro-Industry in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan provinces.

Documents to to this effect were signed and exchanged between Kuninori Matsuda, Ambassador of Japan to Pakistan and Ms. Nadia Aftab, Country Representative of UNIDO.

A Grant-agreement on the details of implementation of the project was also signed and exchanged between Mr. Shigeki Furuta, Chief Representative of Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and Ms. Nadia Aftab in the presence of Sahibzada Muhammad Mehboob Sultan, Federal Minister for Ministry of National Food Security and Research.

The grant will be utilized by UNIDO to pilot the enhancement of productive and compliance capacities of relevant actors in the cattle meat value chain within selected production areas/ districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (Peshawar, Abbottabad, Kohistan and D.I. Khan) and apple value chain in Balochistan (KillaSaifullah, Killa Abdullah, Pishin and Quetta).

The project will simultaneously support the relevant governmental bodies to offer adequate services to the industry at a sustainable manner and ensure the sustainability and the possibility to upscale best practices.

As an expected result of this project it will revitalize the livelihood of value chain actors, covering their daily income from the apple and cattle value chains and to improve practices of food manufacturers and processors along with the related enabling environment across two provinces of Pakistan.

Ambassador Kuninori Matsuda said on the occasion that Japan supports this project because almost 60% of people work for Agri-Industry in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan.

" We expect this project will reduce food losses, improve supply chain management, and will add more value to products, which will lead to more income generation. We believe this achievement will contribute to socio-economic stability of targeted provinces. Agriculture sector of Pakistan will remain one of the priority areas for Japan to support,” he added.

INP/JAVED