ISLAMABAD, Sept 5: Federal Food Minister Sikandar Hayat Bosan here on Tuesday launched the Agribusiness Development and Diversification project that is aimed at benefiting 12,500 small farmers.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr Bosan said the Asian Development Bank-funded project would be implemented by the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock in a period of five years.

Under the project, he added, a number of institutions would develop, which would benefit 10,000 agro enterprises by improving access to finance, resulting in the direct employment of 100,000 people every year, and 700,000 people indirectly.

The minister said 25,000 farmers would receive on-farm technical training under the project’s capacity-building activity, while 5,000 entrepreneurs would receive technical and managerial training.

The impact of the project would be multi-dimensional. It would result in increased production in the agricultural, horticulture, and livestock sectors.