Secretary Agriculture Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Dr. Muhammad Bakhtiar Khan has said that proposed Asian Development Bank (ADB)-funded project, “Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Resilient Irrigated Agriculture Livelihood Development Project (KPRIALDP)” will prove highly beneficial for vulnerable and underprivileged communities and will play an important role in promoting food security. He said that introduction of modern initiatives such as smart irrigation, short-duration vegetables, olive cultivation and other high-value crops is the need of the time. He expressed these views while chairing a pre-wrap-up meeting regarding proposed project at his office in Civil Secretariat Peshawar. The meeting was attended by the ADB Resident Mission team, Director General On-Farm Water Management Hayat Khan and relevant technical team.
During the meeting, ADB team gave a detailed briefing on the proposed project and highlighted its key features. It was informed that project is currently in the planning stage and final preparation of the PC-1 document. project is expected to increase cultivated and irrigated areas, improve crop productivity and cropping intensity, create new employment opportunities, enhance the living standards of local communities and strengthen food security.
The project will cover the sectors of on-farm water management, soil and water conservation, agricultural extension, agricultural engineering, agricultural research systems, forestry and wildlife. Under the project, the rehabilitation of the Pehur Main Canal Command Area in District Mardan, covering 14,385 hectares has been proposed. In addition, under Pehur High Level Canal Lot-IV, 4,424 hectares of new land in Mardan and Nowshera districts will be brought under irrigation, while in District Chitral development of a new command area of 1,466 hectares has been proposed through Mulkhow irrigation scheme.
The meeting was informed that the total estimated cost of the project is proposed at US$239.13 million.