ISLAMABAD, May 20: The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a loan of $31 million for the development of a competitive and sustainable agribusiness sector in Pakistan. The Agribusiness Development Project will establish market- based approaches for agribusiness development and enhancing technical and managerial capacity in the sub-sector.

The loan comes from the bank’s concessional fund, carrying a 32-year term, including a grace period of eight years. Interest is at 1 per cent per annum during the grace period and 1.5 per cent per annum subsequently.

Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock is the executing agency for the project.

The project will focus on horticulture through actions to improve the livestock and dairy institutional framework, and support for selected enterprises will be provided.

About 2,000 agro-enterprises are expected to benefit from the agribusiness support fund operations over the five years of the project life.

Further, a handful of institutions are expected to develop dedicated agribusiness finance functions, which could benefit an additional 10,000 agro-enterprises, including up to 12,500 farmer entrepreneurs by improving access to finance and providing significant jobs and income-generating opportunities.

The total cost of the project is estimated at $49 million, to which the government will contribute $6.9 million, the agribusiness enterprises $10.4 million, private sector institutions $600,000, and beneficiaries $100,000. —APP