PESHAWAR: The Government of Japan in collaboration with Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations Tuesday handed over locust control equipment to the Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa under the Grant in Aid project titled "Project for the Restoration of Livelihoods in the Merged Districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa."
The items handed over to the provincial government included 20,000 liters of insecticide, 170 battery-operated sprays pumps, 170 generator-operated spray pumps and 77 units of motorcycles for mobilization of staff of the Agriculture Extension Department for future locust control activities in the merged districts of KP, said an official of FAO here.
The support would strengthen the operational capacities for desert locust control operations through better preparedness for and response to the crisis.
The handing over ceremony was held at a hotel in Islamabad and attended by Ambassador of Japan to Pakistan Matsuda Kuninori, Minister for Agriculture KP Mohibullah Khan, Chief Representative, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) Pakistan Office Furuta Shigeki, FAO Representative in Pakistan and Florence Marie Rolle, Secretary Agriculture GoKP Dr. Muhammad Israr Khan as well as other senior officials of the relevant departments of the Government of KP.
The aforesaid project, which provided grants worth 560 million Japanese Yen equivalent to around USD 5.1 million/around Rs840 million, started in April 2018 and will be completed within 2021.
The project has been implemented in order to restore livelihoods in the Merged Districts of KP by improving productivity and value addition in the Agriculture Sector.
Under the project, activities like establishment of fruit nurseries, rehabilitation of irrigation channels, and distribution of poultry packages have taken place and benefited more than 32,000 households (around 295,000 individuals). The provision of the locust control equipment was added so that the KP Government can effectively respond to the locust attacks in future.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021
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