PESHAWAR: The Horticulture Advancement Activity (THAzA), a USAID-funded Project, which is being implemented by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in Balochistan and the Newly Merged Districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP-NMDs), is designed to improve competitiveness of the potential horticultural Value Chains within the target regions and markets.

THAzA supports through in-kind matching grant’s assistance of Rs17.85 million the establishment of a Cold Storage aimed at addressing the major constraints that are becoming impediments in the trading of fresh horticultural produce, which emanate due to lack of proper post harvest handling and storage facilities.

Thus, a well-established cold chain infrastructure is vital for maintaining the quality and increasing shelf life of the fresh horticultural produce. With the establishment of this, farmers will be able to store their produce for longer and to avoid peak season glut in the markets and resultant low prices for producers.

With another grant of Rs15.568 million, a corrugated cardboard cartons manufacturing unit will be setup, catering to the needs of horticultural produce (fruits & vegetables), cosmetics and pharma industry for production of different types of packing material locally for the market-preferred best quality products.

For this purpose, the other day, during a simple but a splendid ceremony in Peshawar, the two first-ever Grant Agreements (GA) were signed for NMDs with two local Private Investors, Ali Muhammad and Pir Rahman from Wana, South Waziristan who will respectively establish a 300-MT capacity Cold Storage and a Packaging Material Production Unit which will boost the horticulture sector in the NMDs.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022