September 21, 2006	Thursday	Sha'aban 27, 1427

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GILGIT, Sept 20: The Northern Areas Development Project (NADP) has approved Rs400m for the completion of various projects in agriculture, livestock, gardening and poultry farming in the southern Diamer district of Northern Areas.

The NADP is working in collaboration with the International Fund for Agriculture Development and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Sources told Dawn that the projects were being launched on need basis after consideration of schemes recommended by the local communities.

They said more than 250 village organisations had been constituted in the district to liaise with the executing agencies.

The community involvement in the development was aimed at ensuring transparency in the projects, they added. NADP projects manager Saeed Ahmed Khan said the purpose of these multi-million projects was to bring improvement in agriculture and livestock breeding and spread awareness about judicious management of local resources.

Since agriculture and livestock herding were main sources of income in Diamer, they wanted to initiate new techniques in these sectors in order to enhance production and bolster local economy, said Mr Khan.