PESHAWAR: Provincial Minister for Agriculture and Livestock Mohibullah Khan has said that 11 projects in the agriculture and livestock sectors worth Rs 45 billion have been approved by the federal government for increasing milk and meat production besides ensuring autarky in food.

Speaking at a farmers’ convention the other day, he said that projects worth Rs 30 billion have already been launched with the assistance of the federal government for provision of irrigation water to agriculture lands.

The minister said that only 25,000 watercourses were constructed in the last seven decades but efforts were under way to take that number to 50,000 during the tenure of the present provincial government.

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government introduced the province’s first food security policy and enhanced meat and milk production under the National Agriculture Emergency Programme, he said. A total of 1,200 livestock farms benefited from the Calf Fattening and Save the Calf projects.

Mohibullah Khan said that besides establishment of veterinary dispensaries and provision of free animal vaccines, setting up of a veterinary university was ensured. A veterinary census was also conducted for the first time in the province. The convention was also addressed by former federal minister Murad Saeed and Agriculture Secretary Muhammad Israr Khan.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022