PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has allocated Rs2.57 billion for 40 projects in the agriculture sector, out of which 30 are ongoing with allocation of Rs2.21 billion and 10 are new with allocations of Rs355 million.

According to the documents for the budget for session 2018-19, some of the major projects include provision of offices for newly-created directorates and repair of buildings damaged in terrorist attacks.

The other schemes include procurement of earth-moving machinery for land reclamation, eco-friendly management of fruit flies, database development through information and communication technology in crop reporting service, establishment of trout villages in Malakand and Hazara divisions, control of livestock diseases of economic importance and solarisation of agriculture tubewells.

It was stated that the agriculture and livestock contributed around 24 per cent of the provincial GDP, which engaged more than 50 per cent of the labour force of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The statement said diversification of horticulture (with its potential to provide more income per acre at higher labour inputs) and rural-based agriculture processing units offered promising avenues for increasing the income of rural households.

Published in Dawn, October 16th, 2018